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STRONG  SOUL,  by^  what  shore 
Tarriest  thou  now?     For  that  force. 
Surely,  has  riot  been  left  vain! 
Somewhere,  surely,  afar. 
In  the  sounding  labor-house  vast 
Of  being,  is  practiced  that  strength. 
Zealous,  beneficent,  firm! 

Yes,  in  some  far-shining  sphere. 
Conscious  or  not  of  the  past. 
Still  thou  performest  the  word 
Of  the  Spirit  in  whom  thou  dost  live. 
Prompt,  unwearied,  as  here. 
Still  thou  upraisest  with  zeal 
The  humble  good  from  the  ground. 
Sternly  repressest  the  bad; 
Still,  like  a  trumpet,  dost  rouse 
Those  who  with  half-open  eyes 
Tread  the  border-land  dim 
'Twixt  vice  and  virtue;  reviv'st, 
Succorest.      This  was  thy  work, 
This  was  th^  life  upon  earth. — 

"Rugby  Chapel.  "—Matthew  Arnold. 


Hi 
CQ 

O 

H 


LIVES    OF 

Franklin  Plato  EUer 

z    and  z 

John  Carlton  Eller 


BY 


J.  B.  HUBBELL 


Privately  Printed   MCMX 


Oable  of  Contents 


PAGE 

FOKEWOBD  TO  THE  ReADEB 9 

Introductory  Sketch. 

Frauklin  Plato  Eller 11 

Introductory  Sketch. 

John  Carltou  Eller 25 

Introduction  to  Letters  and  Tributes 44 

Tributes   and  Letters   Pertaining  to   the   Life  and 

Character  of  F.  Plato  Eller 45 

Tributes   and   Letters   Pertaining   to   the   Life  and 

Character  of  John  C.  Eller 58 

Introduction  to  the  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Plato 

Eller   89 

"Institutions  the  Result  of  Growth" 92 

"Our  Retiring  President" 98 

"The  Dialectic  Society" 101 

Debate  on  the  Electoral  College 103 

Debate  on  Home  Rule  for  the  Irish 112 

Debate  on  the  Eastern  Question 128 

"A  Brief  Review  of  Scholasticism" 135 

Introduction  to  the  Writings  and  Speeches  of  John 

Eller    145 

"Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man" 147 

"What  is  Morality,"  a  Thesis 154 

"A  Plea  for  American  Commerce" 171 

Debate  on  Rigid  Party  Organization 177 

Debate  on  Dangers  of  Centralization 189 

"The  Origin  and  Rise  of  Government,"  A  Thesis. .  198 

The  College  Fraternity 211 

Articles  from  the  "White  and  Blue" 216 

Poems  :  "Melancholia,"    "The  Doubter" 221,  222 

The  Modern  Chivalry  ;  an  Essay 222 

Class  Farewell    228 

The  Brothers, 

An  Elegy,  by  Leonard  Van  Noppen 231 

Appendix. 

The  College  Record  of  John  and  Plato  Eller.  .244,  245 


Oable  of  Ullustratlotis. 


The  Home,  Berlin 

The  Brothers  (in  youth)     - 

Alpha  Theta  Phi  Badge 

F.  P.  Elleb    -        -        -        -        ■ 

Hall  of  Dialectic  Society 

John  Carlton  Ellee    - 

University  of  North  Carolina 


Frontispiece 
Page    24-  25 
74 
88-  89 
101-102 
144-145 
230-231 


^foreword  to  t^e  deader 

The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  not  to  glorify,  but  to 
commemorate,  not  to  encourage  unseemly  family  pride, 
but  to  preserve  the  memory  of  those  who  were  noble 
and  true.  It  has  been  more  than  seventeen  years 
since  the  death  of  Plato  Eller  and  more  than  thirteen 
since  that  of  his  brother  John ;  but  they  have  not  been 
forgotten;  time  has  not  dimmed  the  recollection  of 
their  lives  in  the  minds  of  those  who  knew  them.  We 
remember  their  unselfishness,  their  manliness,  the  glo- 
rious promise  of  their  youth,  their  heroic  struggle  for 
the  highest  and  noblest  in  life ;  and  we  wish  all  who 
bear  the  family  name  and  yet  never  knew  them  as 
their  loved  ones  knew  them,  to  learn  their  story,  so 
strangely  sweet  and  sad,  to  know  the  best  that  they 
wrote  and  thought,  and,  like  them,  to  live  lives  that 
shall  reflect  only  honor  upon  the  name  which  they 
bore.  And  this  is  why,  after  more  than  a  decade  of 
seeming  forgetfulness,  we  would  lay  this  tribute  dedi- 
cated to  their  memory  as  a  tardily  woven  wreath  of 
flowers  upon  the  graves  of  those  that  we  love. 

It  was  long  the  purpose  of  their  older  brother,  Mr. 
A.  H.  Eller,  to  prepare  such  a  volume;  but  the  cares 
of  a  busy  life  and  the  too  poignant  recollection  of  the 
last  sad  hours  spent  with  them  upon  earth  were  too 
great  to  permit  his  undertaking  the  task.  And  per- 
haps it  is  best  that  the  work  should  be  brought  to  com- 
pletion by  one  who,  although  a  near  relative  of  the 
deceased,  is  a  native  of  another  State,  and  hence  never 
knew  them.  He  has  undertaken  the  study  of  their 
lives  in  much  the  same  manner  in  which  he  would 
undertake  a  study  of  any  man  whom  he  had  never 
known.  His  connection  with  the  University  with 
which  they  were  so  intimately  connected  as  students 


10  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

has  been  that  of  a  teacher.  This  has  given  a  signifi- 
cance to  many  incidents  in  their  hves  that  would  be 
almost  meaningless  to  others ;  and  he  hopes  that  it  has 
enabled  him  to  avoid,  by  a  constant  comparison  with 
the  achievements  of  other  students,  an  exaggerated 
estimate  of  their  ability  and  attainments.  It  has  been 
his  purpose  to  construct  from  their  manuscripts,  the 
various  college  publications,  the  letters  of  friends  and 
relatives,  and  the  recollections  of  those  who  knew 
them  a  sympathetic  and  yet  impartial  account  of  their 
lives.  In  no  case  has  he  drawn  upon  his  imagination 
to  adorn  or  complete  the  story ;  and  in  no  instance  has 
he,  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge,  made  a  single  state- 
ment or  implication  which  cannot  be  conclusively 
shown  to  be  true.  Yet  the  preparation  of  this  volume 
has  been  truly  a  "labor  of  love"  and  sympathy;  for  it 
is  only  three  years  since  he  lost,  struck  down  by  the 
cold  hand  of  Death,  a  brother  who,  like  those  of  whom 
he  has  written  here,  was  strong  in  character  and  full 
of  the  promise  of  a  glorious  manhood,  and  who  bore 
the  name  of  these  his  uncles,  Eller  Henry  Hubbell. 

On  behalf  of  the  entire  family,  I  wish  to  thank  all — 
and  they  are  many — who  have  assisted  in  the  comple- 
tion of  this  work.  Their  assistance  is  all  the  more 
appreciated  because  many  things  have  been  forgotten 
since  the  preparation  of  this  volume  was  first  contem- 
plated and  because  this  preparation  was  necessarily 
completed  in  a  very  limited  period  of  time.  They  may 
rest  assured  that  the  remembrance  of  what  they  have 
done  will  live  so  long  as  the  memory  of  the  lamented 
young  men,  the  story  of  whose  lives  is  here  told,  is 
cherished  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  loved  them. 

Jay  Broadus  Hubbell. 

Red  House,  Virginia,  September  18,  1909. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  11 

introductory  Sketcl) 


Franklin  Plato  Eller. 

On  October  24,  1849,  James  Eller,  of  German  and 
Scotch  descent,  was  married  to  Mary  Ann  Carlton,  of 
English  descent.  They  lived  at  New  Hope,  Wilkes 
County,  North  Carolina,  until  October,  1865,  when  he 
sold  his  farm  and  moved  with  his  family  across  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Ashe. 
The  War  had  just  closed,  leaving  the  county  in  an  ap- 
palling condition  of  poverty  and  disorganization.  Al- 
though himself  unable  on  account  of  ill  health  to  bear 
arms,  Mr.  Eller  had  risked  his  life  repeatedly  in  the 
discharge  of  duties  placed  upon  him  by  the  State, 
which  had  entrusted  to  him  the  distribution  of  supplies 
to  the  families  of  soldiers  in  active  service.  As  the 
War  drew  to  a  close,  many  of  the  mountaineers,  hav- 
ing no  personal  interests  at  stake  and  caring  nothing 
for  the  principles  involved,  deserted  their  commands 
and,  returning  to  their  homes,  organized  bands  of 
"bushwhackers"  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  and  ter- 
rorizing honest  and  loyal  citizens.  Since  he  was  in 
honor  bound  to  withhold  supplies  from  the  families  of 
deserters,  Mr.  Eller  became  a  marked  man.  His  house 
and  farm  were  plundered  again  and  again,  even  while 
he  was  dangerously  ill  with  typhoid  fever ;  and  the 
lives  of  his  wife  and  children  were  endangered  not 
once,  but  many  times.  More  than  once  the  "bush- 
whackers" came  to  his  home  with  the  avowed  intention 
of  killing  him,  and  but  for  the  unflinching  devotion  of 
a  slave  who,  with  a  dozen  muskets  firing  at  a  target 


12  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

held  in  his  hand,  refused  to  betray  his  master's  hiding 
place,  they  would,  doubtless,  have  succeeded  in  their 
aim.  After  the  close  of  the  War  Mr.  Eller  declared 
that  he  could  no  longer  endure  to  live  among  men 
whose  actions  had  shown  such  an  utter  disregard  for 
the  principles  that  were  dearer  than  life  to  him. 

His  new  home  was  situated  at  Berlin,  near  the 
junction  of  Horse  Creek  with  the  North  Fork  of  New 
River  in  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  the  State. 
For  natural  beauty  and  variety  of  scenery  and  wonder- 
ful fertility  of  soil  this  section  of  the  State  is  without 
a  superior  in  the  South.  The  following  description 
taken  from  "A  Mountain  Sketch, "written  by  John 
Eller  at  the  beginning  of  his  Sophomore  year  at  the 
State  University,  does  not  in  any  particular  exaggerate 
the  truth : 

"The  streams  of  Western  North  Carolina  are  the 
mostdefiant  of  truants;  laughingly  they  leap  down  their 
mountain  sides  and  break  away  from  their  native 
state  through  rugged  rock  and  lofty  mountain  top  to 
pay  tribute  to  the  'Father  of  Waters.'  And  of  these 
one  of  the  most  elusive  and  petulant  is  New  River, 
rising  in  Watauga  and  saucily  winding  its  way  through 
Ashe  and  Alleghany  into  Virginia  and  emptying  into 
the  Great  Kanawha.     .     .     . 

"Before  us  is  spread  out  one  vast  panorama  of 
mountain,  hill,  and  valley  alternating  with  river,  creek, 
and  rill.  The  scene  is  constantly  varying  as  the  shad- 
ows chase  each  other  over  field  and  forest  and  the 
clouds  mantle  the  crests  of  the  distant  mountains  in 
an  extraordinary  maze  of  lovely  light.  One  ever- 
changing,  variegated  mosaic  of  animated  color  is  pre- 
sented to  the  eye.  The  dark  green  of  the  primeval 
forest  gently  softens  into  the  lighter  colors  of  grass 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  13 

and  grain ;  grey  bluffs,  crowned  with  pine  and  laurel, 
overlook  transparent  waters  whose  glassy  surface  is 
Nature's  true  mirror,  save  when  it  leaps  and  swirls 
into  a  thousand  fantastic  colors  and  forms,  everchang- 
ing  and  yet  the  same. 

"The  people  of  this  region  seem  to  partake  of  that 
independence  displayed  by  their  mountain  streams. 
It  is  a  sturdy  yeomanry,  rugged  and  strong  in  its  sim- 
plicity, but  terrible  when  aroused  to  a  sense  of  injus- 
tice and  wrong.  King's  Mountain  was  won  by  this 
class  of  people ;  and  many  incidents  are  yet  preserved 
in  their  traditions  worthy  a  place  with  those  recorded 
of  the  noble  Greek  or  the  heroic  Swiss." 

At  Berlin  were  born  the  two  subjects  of  this  sketch, 
Franklin  Plato  and  John  Carlton  Eller.  They  were 
the  youngest  of  Mr.  Eller's  seven  children  who  reached 
maturity,  six  boys  and  one  girl.  The  greatest  desire 
of  Mr.  Eller  and  his  wife,  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
parental  ambitions  of  most  of  their  neighbors,  was  to 
see  their  children  all  well  educated.  In  the  "hard 
times"  which  followed  the  War  this  was  an  undertak- 
ing of  the  greatest  difficulty.  We  who  live  at  a  time 
when  any  young  man  of  intelligence  and  determination 
can  educate  himself  do  not  realize  how  difficult  it  actu- 
ally was.  A  long  and  bitter  War,  leaving  devastation 
and  ruin  in  its  wake,  had  just  closed  only  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  black  era  of  the  Reconstruction,  which 
blighted  the  hopes  of  the  brave  people  for  a  speedy 
recovery  from  the  effects  of  the  War  and  almost  im- 
poverished the  State.  The  State  system  of  public 
schools  was  one  of  the  poorest  in  the  Union.  Schools 
of  every  description,  from  the  public  school  to  the 
University,  were  few,  inefficient,  and  expensive.  It 
was  almost  impossible  for  the  average  young  man  to 


14  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

obtain  either  the  money  or  the  preparation  necessary 
to  enter  a  school  of  high  standing.  This  was  especially 
true  of  the  mountain  section  in  which  Mr.  Eller  lived. 
His  own  health  was  very  poor.  His  home  was  forty- 
five  miles  from  the  nearest  railroad;  and  it  was  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  farm  products  could 
be  hauled  over  the  rough  mountain  roads  to  a  market. 

Others  would  have  given  up ;  it  was  not  so  with  him 
and  his  devoted  wife.  By  his  own  efforts,  aided  by 
the  assistance  of  an  intelligent  father,  he  had  in  a 
measure  made  amends  for  the  lack  of  a  systematic 
education  in  himself;  and  this  enabled  him  to  direct 
his  children  in  their  studies  at  home.  Being  an  intel- 
ligent and  discriminating  reader  himself,  he  encour- 
aged them  to  read  not  many  books,  but  good  books  and 
to  read  carefully  and  thoughtfully. 

His  only  daughter,  Ruth  (since  married  to  D.  S. 
Hubbell,  a  Baptist  minister  of  Virginia),  was  sent  for 
a  year  to  a  boarding  school  and  then  to  a  woman's 
college  in  Bristol ;  and  she,  in  turn,  stimulated  and 
directed  the  intellectual  aspirations  of  her  younger 
brothers.  All  of  the  boys  were  sent  off  to  school,  most 
of  them  to  Moravian  Falls  Academy,  near  Wilkesboro ; 
but  since  it  was  impossible  that  all  of  them  should  go 
to  college,  three,  Augustus,  Sidney,  and  Cicero,  volun- 
tarily relinquished  their  desires  for  a  University  edu- 
cation and  turned  their  attention  to  business  and  prac- 
tical affairs  that  others  might  have  the  opportunities 
which  could  not  be  given  to  all. 

In  1881  Adolphus  Hill  Eller,  after  a  course  at  the 
Moravian  Falls  Academy,  entered  the  University  of 
North  Carolina.  He  graduated  in  1885,  making,  in 
spite  of  adverse  circumstances,  a  creditable  record,  not 
only  as  a  student,  but  as  a  speaker  and  writer  as  well. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  15 

After  his  graduation  he  studied  law  and  began  a  suc- 
cessful career  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Winston-Salem. 

"Plato"  and  "Johnnie,"  as  they  were  known  at 
home,  from  their  earliest  years  were  bent  on  follow- 
ing in  their  brother's  footsteps  in  the  pursuit  of  an 
education.  Even  as  children  they  did  not  place  the 
usual  exaggerated  estimate  upon  the  possession  of 
toys  and  money,  but  spent  their  pocket  change  for 
books  and  gave  their  spare  moments  to  reading  and 
speaking.  Gradually  they  accumulated  a  very  neat  and 
select  little  library,  still  preserved  with  tender  care  by 
their  parents,  consisting  chiefly  of  historical  writings, 
orations,  poetry,  and  fiction.  The  numerous  notes  and 
scrapbooks  which  they  left  show  the  remarkable  indus- 
try and  intelligence  with  which  they  worked.  John 
was  an  omnivorous  reader,  devouring  eagerly  every 
book  that  he  could  find.  Plato,  on  the  other  hand, 
from  the  first,  cared  nothing  for  mere  learning  or  for 
the  lighter  kinds  of  literature,  and  confined  his  reading 
chiefly  to  writing  that  stimulated  thought.  Nearly 
all  of  his  books  are  therefore  works  on  history,  polit- 
ical economy,  oratory,  and  philosophy.  We  find  a 
copy  of  Guizot's  "History  of  Civilization,"  with  his 
name  inside,  dated  1886.  Few  young  men  care  for 
such  heavy  reading  at  seventeen.  Most  of  this  read- 
ing was  carried  on  under  disadvantages,  on  days  when 
little  could  be  done  on  the  farm  or  at  night  after  a  hard 
day's  work  in  the  field  or  store. 

In  1887  Plato  entered  the  Moravian  Falls  Academy. 
He  at  once  joined  the  Philomathic  Literary  Society 
and  participated  eagerly  in  all  its  transactions.  As  a 
boy  he  had  tramped  for  miles  over  hills  covered  with 
snow  and  across  rivers  filled  with  ice  for  a  chance  to 


16  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

speak  at  a  debate.  And  his  success  as  a  speaker  had 
been   equal   to   his  determination   to   succeed.     More  j 

than  once,  we  are  told,  he  and  a  friend  had  challenged  , 

the  entire  club  to  speak  against  them,  and  they  had 
never  failed  to  hold  their  own.  At  Aloravian  Falls  he 
was  recognized  as  an  able  debater;  and  the  logic  and  ; 

fire  of  his  debates  there  would  do  credit  to  many  a  i 

more  experienced  speaker.  At  the  end  of  the  session 
he  delivered  an  oration  on  "The  Necessity  of  Concen-  1 

tration  of  Thought  and  Labor."     The  title  is  signifi- 
cant, for  it  shows  that  thus  early  he  was  directing  all  . 
his  energies  to  the  attainment  of  a  definite  ideal,  which                I 
until  his  death  he  pursued  with  unswerving  singleness                i 
of  purpose.     His  one  ambition  was  to  be  able,  by  force 
of  intellect,  power  of  personality,  and  nobility  of  char-  i 
acter,  to  master  men   for  the  advancement  of  truth  i 
and  righteousness.     The  devotion  to  this  ideal  which                j 
his  life  henceforth  was  to  show  is  seen  in  the  follow-                | 
ing  extract  from  the  oration  mentioned  above :  "While                ■ 
in  school,  make  it  an  aim  of  your  life  to  enter  with                ' 
your  whole  soul  into  your  study ;  and  then  when  these 
scenes  here  are  exchanged  for  those  of  your  future 
calling,  have  an  eye  single  for  the  leadership  of  some 
occupation.     'In  the  vocabulary  of  youth  which  fate  : 
reserves  for  a  noble  manhood  there  should  be  no  such 
word  as  fail.'  " 

In  August,  1889,  Plato  entered  the  Freshman  Class  '■■ 

of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Here,  as  at  the 
Academy,  he  never  allowed  outside  interests  or  the 
demands  of  class  work  to  swerve  him  from  the  one 
purpose  of  his  life.  At  first  he  gave  most  of  his  time 
to  his  text-books,  and  for  the  first  year  his  grades  were, 
in  spite  of  a  comparatively  hurried  preparation,  very 
creditable  indeed.     But  he  never  cared  a   straw   for 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  17 

high  grades  or  for  mere  learning  as  such.  On  his 
monthly  report  for  May,  1891,  we  find  the  following, 
written  by  some  member  of  the  University  Faculty: 
"Works  so  hard  on  preparing  speeches  that  he  impairs 
text-book  work.  Very  successful  speaker."  In  the 
class  work  which  he  found  directly  useful  for  his  pur- 
pose he  did  well;  his  grades  on  English  and  History 
are  uniformly  excellent.  In  some  others  he  was  con- 
tent with  merely  passing;  he  was  concentrating  his 
thought  and  attention  on  things  that  were,  to  him,  of 
much  greater  importance. 

In  accordance  with  the  long  established  custom 
that  students  from  the  western  part  of  the  State  should 
join  the  Dialectic  Society  and  those  from  the  eastern 
half  the  Philanthropic,  Plato  had  joined  the  former 
and  become  a  faithful  and  enthusiastic  member. 

He  was  still  an  incessant  reader  of  the  same  kind  of 
books  that  had  interested  him  as  a  boy.  As  a  thinker 
he  was,  so  one  of  his  college  acquaintances,  now  a 
prominent  lawyer  in  one  of  the  first  cities  of  the  State, 
says  of  him,  "the  peer  of  any  man  in  the  University," 
and  he  was  so  regarded  by  both  faculty  and  students. 
Whenever  he  rose  to  speak  upon  any  topic,  he  had  the 
undivided  attention  of  all,  for  they  knew  that  so  far  as 
thought  and  investigation  could  go  he  had  exhausted 
it;  and  it  was  this  assurance  of  the  right  combined 
with  the  deepest  earnestness  that  gave  his  words  a 
power  rarely  felt  in  the  speeches  of  undergraduates. 

The  confidence  which  students  and  faculty  placed  in 
him  was  remarkable.  One  of  his  bosom  friends,  a 
leader  in  the  class  above  him,  says:  "We  led  the  stu- 
dent body  with  us.  Our  views  were  always  the  same, 
and  because  he  espoused  and  championed  them  I  al- 
ways believed  we  were  right.     Although  he  never  strug- 


18  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

gled  for  college  honors,  he  obtained  unsought  almost 
every  honor  in  the  power  of  his  class  and  society  to 
give.  He  was  twice  representative  of  the  Dialectic 
Society  in  an  inter-society  debate ;  he  was  the  president 
of  the  Society;  he  was  elected  first  editor  of  the  Uni- 
versity Magazine  from  his  Society  for  1892-3 ;  he  was 
elected  first  representative  of  his  society  for  the  inter- 
society  oratorical  contest  at  the  Commencement  of 
1892 ;  and  he  was  for  three  years  president  of  his 
class,  '93,  an  honor  which  he  still  held  at  his  death. 
Besides  these,  he  was  the  winner  of  the  Best  Debater's 
Medal  in  the  Di  Society  in  his  Sophomore  year,  an 
honor  which  few  but  Juniors  and  Seniors  contested 
for.  That  his  head  was  not  turned  by  these  honors 
and  that  he  never  lost  his  simplicity  of  manner  and 
sympathetic  interest  in  those  less  fortunate,  we  have 
the  unanimous  testimony  of  his  college  friends  to 
show. 

During  his  first  vacation  Plato  worked  on  his  fath- 
er's farm,  still  continuing  to  read  late  at  night  in  spite 
of  the  fatigue  that  necessarily  followed  nine  months 
of  sedentary  life.  In  the  next  summer,  the  last  he 
ever  spent  at  home,  he  was  principal  of  the  Liberty 
Hill  Academy  at  Nathan's  Creek,  in  Ashe  County.  In 
this  summer  also  he  delivered  the  commencement  ad- 
dress at  Belle  View  Academy,  in  Alleghany  County. 
Local  tradition  still  preserves  the  memory  of  this 
speech;  and  competent  judges,  men  who  had  heard  the 
greatest  of  North  Carolina  orators,  have,  long  since 
then,  not  hesitated  to  affirm  that  they  never  heard  a 
more  eloquent  address  or  saw  a  speaker  more  com- 
pletely master  his  audience. 

During  this  summer  he  was  necessarily  away  from 
home  a  great  part  of  the  time,  a  fact  which  his  parents 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  19 

have  ever  since  regretted  because  this  was  his  last 
summer  at  home.  He  too,  although  he  did  not  men- 
tion it,  seems  to  have  felt  that  this  might  be  the  last. 
And  the  following  poem  of  Tennyson,  in  a  copy  of 
that  Poet's  works  belonging  to  the  family,  is  marked 
by  him  in  a  way  that  indicates  a  depth  of  emotion  on 
his  part  akin  to  a  premonition  that  he  would  never 
again  see  his  relatives  and  his  home  by  the  side  of  the 
beautiful  river  that  he  loved : 

"Flow  down,  cold  rivulet,  to  the  sea, 
Thy  tribute  wave  deliver: 
No  more  by  thee  my  steps  shall  be. 
Forever  and  forever. 

"Flow,  softly  flow,  by  lawn  and  lea, 
A  rivulet  then  a  river: 
Nowhere  by  thee  my  steps  shall  be, 
Forever  and  forever. 

"But  here  will  sigh  thine  alder- tree, 
And  here  thine  aspen  shiver; 
And  here  by  thee  w^ill  hum  the  bee, 
Forever  and  forever. 

"A  thousand  suns  will  stream  on  thee, 
A  thousand  moons  wUl  quiver; 
But  not  by  thee  my  step  shall  be, 
Forever  and  forever." 

The  subject  of  the  oration  which  Plato  prepared  for 
the  oratorical  contest  at  the  close  of  his  Junior  year 
was  ''Institutions  the  Result  of  Growth."  His  choice 
of  the  subject  was  the  result  of  an  investigation  under- 
taken for  Professor  H.  H.  Williams.  The  investiga- 
tion was  to  lead  to  a  thesis  on  "The  Law  of  Growth." 
The  thesis  was  never  finished,  and  the  oration,  though 
completed  and  later  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  was  des- 


20  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

tined  never  to  be  delivered.  The  work  which  Plato 
gave  to  the  preparation  of  this  speech  was  probably  in 
no  small  degree  the  cause  of  the  illness  which  resulted 
in  his  death.  Late  in  May  he  was  seized  with  what 
was  supposed  to  be  only  an  obstinate  case  of  malaria. 
His  brother,  A.  H.  Eller,  was  summoned  from  Win- 
ston when  it  was  found  that  he  did  not  improve ;  and 
it  was  soon  found  that  he  was  suffering  from  an  attack 
of  typhoid  fever. 

His  brother  procured  the  best  medical  attention  ob- 
tainable and  remained  constantly  at  his  bedside.  While 
Plato  was  lying  ill,  the  Commencement  began  and  the 
oratorical  contest  in  which  he  was  to  participate  came 
off.  It  had  been  generally  conceded  that  he  would  win 
the  Medal ;  and,  indeed.  President  Winston,  in  explain- 
ing the  absence  of  the  first  speaker  on  the  program, 
said  that  Plato  Eller  was  "the  best  speaker  in  the  Uni- 
versity." But  no  word  of  murmuring  or  complaint 
escaped  his  lips.  An  intimate  friend,  also  a  contestant 
for  the  Medal,  says:  "I  remember  how  he  wished  to 
hear  my  oration,  saying  nothing  of  the  inability  to 
deliver  his  own."  The  Medal  was  won  by  Mr.  F.  C. 
Harding,  a  member  of  the  Philanthropic  Society  and 
a  close  friend  of  Plato.  The  victor  in  the  contest  took 
the  beautiful  trophy  to  the  bedside  of  his  friend  and  in 
words  that  show  at  once  his  high  opinion  of  Plato  as 
a  speaker  and  the  unselfishness  of  his  own  character, 
said :  "Here,  Eller,  this  is  yours ;  you  would  have  won 
it  if  you  could  have  spoken  that  speech." 

There  is  no  need  to  prolong  the  sad  story  further. 
In  spite  of  the  careful  attention  of  physician  and 
nurses,  in  spite  of  the  unceasing  prayers  of  relatives 
and  friends,  which  at  one  time  seemed  so  nearly  an- 
swered, the  disease,  so  fatal  to  the  robust  people  of  the 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  21 

mountains,  resulted  in  death.  The  course  of  the  fever 
once  seemed  broken,  but  blood  poisoning  and  other 
complications  set  in,  and  the  ravages  of  the  disease 
could  not  be  checked.  Plato  Eller  died  in  his  room  in 
the  Old  South  Building,  on  Wednesday,  June  15,  1892, 
in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age.  Mr.  A.  H.  Eller, 
accompanied  by  a  classmate  of  the  deceased,  Mr.  How- 
ard E.  Rondthaler,  now  President  of  Salem  Academy 
and  College,  removed  the  body  to  his  father's  home  in 
Ashe  County.  Mr.  Rondthaler  officiated  at  the  burial 
services,  and  nobly  endeavored  to  comfort  the  heart- 
broken father  and  mother  of  his  friend. 

The  keenness  of  the  grief  of  the  parents,  brothers, 
and  sister,  can  be  understood  only  by  those  who,  like 
them,  have  "loved  and  lost."  It  is  always  sad  to  see 
death,  no  matter  what  be  the  guise  in  which  he  comes 
or  what  poor  mortal  the  victim  of  his  dart;  but  never 
so  sad,  in  the  language  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  as  when 
his  coming  blights  the  life  of  the  young  and  beautiful. 
"It  seems  such  a  waste,"  a  friend  wrote  twelve  years 
ago ;  and  the  pity  of  it  has  only  grown  greater  since 
then,  for,  had  he  lived,  he  would  now  be  in  the  full 
flower  of  usefulness  and  strength.  His  parents  had 
struggled  as  few  parents  have  struggled  to  give  their 
son  the  means  of  an  education.  Their  own  unrealized 
ambitions  had  become  entwined  with  his,  and  now  they 
beheld  him,  so  young  and  so  talented,  so  strong  and  so 
true,  at  one  fell  stroke  laid  low  in  the  dust.  Had  it 
been  permitted,  they  would  have  chosen  rather  that 
the  death-angel  should  have  taken  them  in  his  stead. 
But  the  one  who  found  it  hardest  to  realize  that  Plato 
Eller  was  dead  with  all  his  brilliant  promise  unfulfilled, 
was  his  brother  John,  so  soon  to  show  the  same  bril- 


22  FRAXKLIX  PLATO  ELLER 

liant  promise  and  share  the  same  sad  fate.  He  felt  as 
Tennyson  felt  when  he  wrote  after  the  death  of  one 
whom  the  aged  Gladstone  declared  to  have  been  the 
most  promising  of  all  young  men  he  had  ever  known : 

"So  many  worlds,  so  much  to  do, 
So  little  done,  such  things  to  be. 
How  know^  I  what  had  need  of  thee. 
For  thou  wert  strong  as  thou  wert  true  ?  " 


-"o 


All  who  attended  the  burial  recall  the  picture  of  his 
strong  young  form  standing  alone  at  the  grave  as  all 
the  rest  sadly  and  slowly  descended  the  hill  to  the 
grief-stricken  home. 

Upon  the  devoted  brother  who  had  tended  him  in 
his  last  illness  the  blow,  too,  was  hea\y.  He  had 
helped  him  through  college  with  encouragement,  ad- 
vice, and  money,  and  was  looking  forward  to  the  day 
when  he  should  be  associated  with  him  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  He  had  believed  that  with  his 
endowments  of  character  and  talent  he  would  one 
day  be  a  leader  in  the  nation.  He  has  since  then 
repeatedly  said  that  Plato  was  the  most  gifted  member 
of  the  family.  "Johnnie,"  said  he,  "had  the  culture, 
the  brilliancy,  and  the  versatility  of  the  family,  but 
Plato  had  the  intellect;  he  would  have  made  a  great 
man." 

This  opinion  was  shared  by  all  who  knew  him.  An 
upper  classman  who  knew  him  well  said  seven  years 
after  his  death :  "He  was  the  soul  of  honor  and  a  man 
of  much  power  and  ability;  he  \\T)uld  certainly  have 
been  a  useful  citizen  had  God  spared  him.  I  always 
thought  that  he  would  make  a  great  mark  in  the  State ; 
the  faculty  and  entire  student  body  thought  so,  too; 
and    everybody    respected    him."      Another    college 


JOHN  CARLTOX  ELLER  23 

friend,  now  one  of  the  ablest  la^\^^ers  in  the  State,  said 
recently  to  the  writer  that  Plato  Eller  had  the  finest 
mind  for  grasping,  applying,  and  vitalizing  abstract 
truths  that  he  had  ever  seen.  He  would  have  made,  he 
thinks  with  many  others,  a  great  statesman  or  constitu- 
tional lawyer.  This  opinion  was  shared  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  University,  as  the  following  letter  written 
by  him  to  A.  H.  Eller  will  show : 

Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  June  24,  1892. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Eller: — I  cannot  tell  you  how  I  was  grieved 
and  shocked  when  I  heard  of  the  death  of  your  brother.    .    .    . 

Your  brother  had  won  my  esteem  and  affection.  I  had 
watched  him  very  closely,  and  I  regarded  him  as  the  most 
promising  man  in  the  University.  He  was  not  the  best  scholar 
nor  the  best  student;  but  in  all  the  strong  and  admirable  qual- 
ities of  manhood  which  are  essential  to  true  greatness  and  to 
lasting  success,  he  was  as  highly  gifted  as  any  young  man  I 
ever  knew\ 

His  death  is  a  deep  blow  to  me.  The  University  will  greatly 
miss  him,  even  as  a  student.  I  had  always  believed  that  he 
would  one  day  be  a  great  state,  and  even  a  national,  leader. 

This  wound  has  cut  your  heart,  I  know  fuU  well.  And  your 
dear  Father  and  Mother — may  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  give 
them  strength  to  bear  it.  My  heart  is  bleeding  with  you.  I 
cannot  understand  it.  I  only  know  that  wherever  he  is,  he  is 
still  a  pure,  manly,  lofty  spirit,  aspiring  to  the  noblest  heights 
and  making  better  and  happier  those  around  him. 

I  am,  sir,  with  sincere  and  profound  sorrow, 

Your  friend, 

Geo.  T.  Winston. 

If  such  was  the  sorrow  of  a  friend,  what  must  have 
been  that  of  those  still  dearer  to  him? 

The  above  letter  is  quoted  in  this  connection  not 
merely  because  of  the  estimate  of  Plato's  character 


24  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

and  talents  which  it  contains,  but  rather  because  it 
represents  admirably  the  true  Christian  attitude  toward 
death.  Although  Plato  was  never  a  member  of  any- 
church,  no  fears  were  entertained  for  his  hereafter. 
His  was  a  pure,  earnest,  unselfish  life,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  not  self -advancement,  but  the  uplifting  of 
humanity  and  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  and 
truth;  and  if,  in  the  words  of  John  Charles  McNeill, 
heaven  refuses  such  as  he,  then 

"life  is 
A  tragedy  indeed." 

As  an  instance  of  the  unselfishness  of  his  character, 
we  quote  the  following  sentence  from  a  letter  of  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement  written  to  his  brother  Cicero 
only  a  few  months  before  his  own  death :  "I  wish  I 
could  divide  some  of  my  health  and  vigor  with  you." 

A  college  friend  writes :  "His  heart  was  pure  and 
his  life  blameless;  I  have  no  fears  for  his  future." 

After  reading  what  has  been  said  by  those  who  knew 
him,  no  one  will,  we  trust,  think  the  following  inscrip- 
tion upon  the  monument  erected  over  the  grave  of  him 
whose  memory  we  still  love  and  cherish  other  than  just 
and  true : 

"At  the  close  of  his  third  year  at  the 
University,  while  enjoying  the  highest 
honors  in  the  gift  of  his  Class  and  Society 
and  the  admiration  andafifection  of  Fac- 
ulty and  Student-body  his  pure,  strong, 
noble  soul  passed  away. 

"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall  see  God," 


9 
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JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  25 

3ntro6uctori?  SKctc^ 


John  Carlton  Eller. 

Like  his  older  brother,  John  Carlton  Eller  (named 
Carlton  for  his  mother,  Mary  Ann  Carlton)  received 
his  preparatory  training  at  the  Moravian  Falls  Acad- 
emy. In  a  local  paper  describing  the  Commencement 
he  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  six  speakers  who  debated 
the  question  of  Foreign  Immigration.  The  corre- 
spondent adds :  "The  boys  did  very  well,  Mr.  Eller 
deserving  special  mention  for  his  concise  and  well 
expressed  argument." 

In  August,  1892,  John  entered  the  Freshman  Class 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  This  class  was 
an  unusually  large  and  brilliant  one.;  it  numbered  at  this 
time  one  hundred  and  fifteen  members,  and  it  fur- 
nished more  men  to  the  Alpha  Theta  Phi  Society  than 
any  other  class  up  to  '98,  if  not  later.  On  January  19, 
1893,  John  was  elected  president  of  his  class,  an  honor 
which,  like  his  brother  Plato,  he  was  to  hold  each  suc- 
ceeding year  of  his  stay  at  the  University. 

Although  John  must  have  thought  many  times  of 
the  brother  who  had  longed  for  his  companionship  at 
school,  and  who  would  have  been  his  guide  and  coun- 
selor in  everything,  he  never  allowed  his  personal  sor- 
rows to  cast  a  gloom  over  his  relations  with  his  fellows. 
Once  in  a  letter  to  his  parents  in  which  he  mentions 
very  briefly  and  modestly  his  election  to  the  class 
presidency,  he  writes  thus :  "I  long  to  get  home  again 
and  see  the  last  tributes  that  have  been  paid  to  Plato. 
I  know  they  are  appropriate  and  give  you  all  a  great 


26  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

deal  of  satisfaction.  Yet  it  is  such  a  grief  to  know 
that  we  must  be  without  his  presence  on  earth.  Let 
us  be  content.  The  feeble  eye  of  mortals  cannot 
pierce  the  veil  of  eternity.  One  day  that  veil  will  be 
withdrawn,  and  we  shall  see  the  splendor  of  Heaven 
with  the  dear  boy  in  its  midst." 

Unlike  Plato,  John  was  ambitious  to  distinguish 
himself  as  a  student ;  and  from  the  first  he  won  recog- 
nition as  one  of  the  best  students  in  his  class.  On  his 
report  sent  home  at  the  end  of  the  second  term  Presi- 
dent Winston  writes :  "Mr.  Eller  has  made  steady  and 
very  honorable  progress.  His  record  is  exemplary  in 
all  respects."  In  the  latter  part  of  the  book  will  be 
found  a  complete  record  of  all  his  grades,  copied  from 
the  records  of  the  University.  The  improvement  is 
marked,  and  it  continues  throughout  his  entire  college 
course.  But  John  never  became  a  mere  "grind."  He 
studied  hard  and  made  a  good  record  in  his  classes,  as 
he  wished  to  do;  but  he  was  just  as  deeply  interested 
in  many  other  things.  The  following  transcript  of 
his  college  career,  taken  from  the  Hellenian  (class 
annual)  for  1896,  gives  some  conception  of  his  versa- 
tility and  popularity : 

"Eller,  John  Carlton,  Berlin,  N.  C— 22  years;  165 
pounds;  5  ie^t,  10  inches;  course  Ph.  B.;  law;  presi- 
dent of  class  4  years;  representative  Di  Society  Com- 
mencement 1894;  representative  Di  Society  inter- 
society  debate  1895 ;  Debater's  Medal  Di  Society 
1895;  Essayist's  Medal  Di  Society  1895;  Editor  of 
"White  and  Blue"  in  1894-95 ;  Editor  of  "Tar  Heel" 
in  1895-96;  sub  ball  manager  Commencement  1895; 
undergraduate  member  of  advisory  board  of  athletics 
1896;  undergraduate  honors  in  Freshman,  Sophomore, 
Junior  and   Senior  years;  president  of  Alpha  Theta 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  27 

Phi ;  Philosophical  Club ;  Shakespeare  Club ;  Historical 
Society;  Di." 

John's  was  almost  an  ideal  record,  as  Plato's  had 
been  in  a  different  way.  Indeed  they  might  be  taken 
as  typical  of  the  two  classes  of  successful  college  men. 
The  one  pursues  a  single  ideal  persistently  and  untir- 
ingly, caring  nothing  for  what  does  not  contribute  to 
its  attainment;  the  other,  in  the  joy  he  feels  in  the  full 
development  of  all  his  faculties,  would  almost  seem 
like  Lord  Bacon,  to  take  "all  knowledge"  for  his 
province,  aiming  rather  at  breadth  than  depth,  at  ver- 
satility rather  than  power.  But  the  contrast  must  not 
lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  one  lacked  broad  culture 
or  the  other  earnestness  of  purpose.  Plato's  ideal  was 
a  broad  one,  and  he  came  to  see  that  almost  every  field 
of  knowledge  could  be  made  to  contribute  something 
to  its  attainment;  and  John,  in  the  midst  of  his  many 
interests,  came  to  feel  a  single  purpose  gradually  dawn- 
ing upon  him,  embracing  and  relating  to  each  other 
the  many  fields  of  endeavor  that  had  attracted  him. 

In  temperament  as  in  personal  appearance,  John 
resembled  his  father.  He  was  jolly,  affable  and  affec- 
tionate. Everybody  loved  him.  He  had  an  abundance 
of  friends  everywhere  he  went;  and  at  the  University 
he  probably  had  as  many  as  any  young  man  who  ever 
entered  its  doors.  There  were  many  whose  opinions 
on  many  subjects  differed  widely  from  his,  who, 
nevertheless,  in  the  words  of  one  of  them,  now  a 
professor  in  the  University,  thought  him  "a  corking 
fine  fellow;"  and  some  of  the  tenderest  and  most  sym- 
pathetic tributes  in  this  volume  are  from  their  hands. 
But  the  affection  of  his  more  intimate  friends 
amounted  to  devotion ;  and  there  are  many  who,  in 
the  words  of  an  editor-in-chief  of  the  "White  and 


28  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Blue"  to  the  writer,  "thought  the  world  of  John 
Eller." 

My  personal  recollections  of  "Uncle  Johnnie,"  as 
he  was  known  to  us  of  the  younger  generation,  are 
very  few,  but  those  few  are  indelible.  Two  pictures 
in  my  mind  stand  out  with  vivid  intensity.  One  is  a 
picture  of  his  stalwart  figure  at  work  in  the  wheat 
field,  of  the  dinner  at  an  old  cabin  by  the  river,  and  of 
his  laugh  as  he  spoke  of  his  blistered  hands.  The 
other  is  a  picture  of  the  same  stalwart  figure,  the  face 
wearing  an  expression  of  tenderest  sadness  as  he  left 
home  for  the  last  time.  He  turned  backward  at  the 
river,  told  me  to  give  his  love  to  my  father  when  he 
came,  cast  a  last  look  at  "home,"  and  was  gone. 

As  in  the  lives  of  most  college  men,  there  is  not 
very  much  to  record  of  John's  Freshman  year.  About 
all  that  can  be  said  of  him  here  is  that  he  was  one  of 
four  or  five  to  carry  ofif  undergraduate  honors  in  the 
Freshman  class — a  pretty  sure  indication  that  he  had 
passed  safely  through  this  critical  period.  When  he 
becomes  a  Sophomore,  however,  John  comes  into 
prominence,  for  in  this  year  the  memorable  anti- 
fraternity  fight  reached  its  highest  point. 

In  discussing  this  rather  delicate  question  of  frater- 
nities, the  writer  has  no  desire  to  revive  old  issues  or 
to  take  sides  with  either  party.  His  purpose  is  simply 
to  discover  the  part  which  this  series  of  events  played 
in  the  life  and  development  of  John  Carlton  Eller.  To 
those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  college  politics,  it  will 
all,  perhaps,  seem  "a  tempest  in  a  tea-pot;"  but  it  is  in 
such  miniature  contests  as  these  that  North  Carolina's 
greatest  statesmen  have  been  trained — as  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  said  while  witnessing  a  football  game  at 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  29 

Eton,  "There  is  where  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  was 


won." 


When  he  entered  the  University  John  had  no  preju- 
dice against  college  fraternities  or  secret  orders  of  any 
description.  His  father  and  several  of  his  older 
brothers  were  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows,  and  one  of 
his  brothers,  A.  H.  Eller,  had  been  a  member  of  one 
of  the  strongest  fraternities  in  the  University.  John 
might,  then,  naturally  have  been  expected  to  become  a 
fraternityman.  The  reason  why  he  was  none  was  not 
that  he  was  in  any  way  different  from  his  brothers, 
but  that  he  believed  that  there  had  been  a  change  in 
the  nature  of  the  fraternities  themselves.  His  paper 
on  "The  College  Fraternity,"  contained  in  this  volume, 
states  the  issue  clearly  and  forcibly  as  he  and  his  non- 
fraternity  friends  saw  it.  They  believed  that  they 
were  not  receiving  their  rights,  and  knowing  that  they 
numbered  in  their  ranks  many,  if  not  most,  of  the 
ablest  men  in  the  University,  they  determined  to  fight 
till  they  won  them. 

As  a  means  of  pressing  the  fight  to  a  crisis,  the  non- 
fraternitymen,  in  the  spring  of  1894,  began  the  publi- 
cation of  a  weekly  paper.  It  was  called  "The  White 
and  Blue,"  white  and  blue  being  the  University  colors. 
The  new  paper  was  to  be  thoroughly  representative  of 
the  true  University  spirit  as  its  founders  conceived  it ; 
and  it  was  to  foster  every  worthy  department  of  the 
University's  life.  This  purpose  is  stated  in  an  edito- 
rial for  September  14,  1894: 

"We  shall  use  our  best  endeavors  to  help  the  literary 
societies,  the  Glee  Club,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. — everything 
pertaining  to  the  University ;  and  in  this  the  true  Uni- 
versity spirit  we  ask  those  who  have  the  University's 
interests  at  heart  to  lend  us  their  undivided  support." 


30  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  purpose  of  the 
paper  was  somewhat  broader  and  its  spirit  perhaps 
more  democratic  than  that  of  the  "Tar  Heel,"  another 
college  weekly,  the  organ  of  the  Athletic  Association, 
which,  so  the  non-fraternitymen  alleged,  was  con- 
trolled by  the  fraternities. 

The  editorial  board  of  "The  White  and  Blue"  num- 
bered among  its  members  not  only  some  of  the  best 
students  and  writers  in  the  University,  but  men  who 
have  since  achieved  State,  and  even  National,  fame. 
The  editorial  staff  as  announced  in  the  first  issue  of 
the  paper,  March  8,  1894,  appears  elsewhere  in  this 
volume. 

Among  them  we  find  an  editor  and  author,  the  trans- 
lator of  Vondel's  "Lucifer,"  three  lawyers  of  great 
ability,  an  associate  professor  in  the  University,  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  Normal  and  Industrial  College  at  Greens- 
boro, a  very  successful  business  man,  and  the  present 
brilliant  Washington  correspondent  of  the  "Charlotte 
Observer." 

These  men  were  not  only  intellectually  among  the 
ablest  in  the  University;  they  were  aggressive  and 
were  sure  that  they  were  right.  They  would  have 
fought  the  issue  to  a  finish  but  for  a  request  from  the 
trustees  that  all  agitation  of  the  question  in  the  college 
papers  should  be  abandoned.  As  it  was,  considerable 
interest  had  been  aroused  throughout  the  State,  and  a 
number  of  the  alumni,  teachers,  and  trustees  of  the 
University  had  declared  that  they  sided  with  the  non- 
fraternitymen.  It  was  the  aim  of  the  leaders  to  bring 
the  matter  before  the  trustees  and  induce  them  to  abol- 
ish the  fraternities.  The  trustees  held  a  meeting  in 
June,  1894,  to  consider  the  matter.  The  result  of  this 
meeting   was   not   very   satisfactory   to   either   party. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  31 

The  trustees,  fearing  that  the  agitation  would  injure 
the  University  in  some  way  and  perhaps  lead  to  the 
withdrawal  of  the  State  appropriation,  requested  the 
editors  of  the  two  papers  to  cease  all  discussion  of  the 
question.  They  then  appointed  a  committee  of  five 
trustees  to  investigate  the  matter  and  report  to  them  at 
their  next  meeting. 

This  meeting  was  held  in  the  Governor's  office  at 
Raleigh  in  February,  1895 ;  the  Governor  as  ex  officio 
president  of  the  trustees  presided  over  the  meeting. 
John  was  the  spokesman  of  a  committee  elected  by 
the  non-fraternitymen  to  represent  them  on  this  occa- 
sion. Mr.  Fabius  H.  Busbee,  until  his  death  a  year 
ago  a  trustee  of  the  University  and  one  of  the  most 
talented  lawyers  in  the  State,  writes  thus  of  John's 
speech  in  a  letter  to  A.  H.  Eller:  "Permit  me  to  add 
that  I  heard  your  brother  represent  before  the  trustees 
a  committee  of  the  students,  and  was  greatly  struck 
by  the  precision  of  his  language  and  the  force  of  his 
delivery ;"  and  he  adds,  "His  lamentable  death  was  a 
source  of  very  deep  regret  to  me." 

The  trustees  deemed  it  unwise  to  take  so  radical  a 
step  as  the  abolition  of  fraternities.  They,  however, 
decreed  that  no  member  of  the  Freshman  Class  should 
be  admitted  to  membership  in  a  fraternity.  Although 
the  issue  had  not  been  fought  to  a  finish  and  although 
they  had  not  obtained  all  that  they  had  contended  for, 
the  non-fraternitymen  felt  that  they  had  won  a  decided 
victory.  They  now,  in  February,  1895,  accepted  the 
proposal  (once  rejected)  of  the  Athletic  Association 
that  the  two  papers  should  be  consolidated  to  form  a 
new  one.  The  new  paper  was  to  be  called  the  "Tar 
Heel ;"  and  of  its  staff  of  eight  editors  four  were 
chosen  from  the  editorial  board  of  the  "White  and 


2>2  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Blue,"  John  being  one  of  the  four  chosen.  Ever  since 
this  combination  of  the  two  factions  the  spirit  of  the 
student  body,  in  spite  of  its  growth  in  numbers,  has 
been  more  democratic.  College  sentiment  has  been 
broader  and  college  spirit  truer  since  that  day.  The 
opposition  to  fraternities  has  not  yet  ceased ;  it  will, 
perhaps,  never  wholly  cease ;  but  a  division  of  power 
and  influence  has  been  established  that  renders  it  un- 
likely that  so  bitter  a  fight  will  ever  occur  again. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  in  this  fight  John  made 
no  personal  enemies.  As  a  friend  says  of  him,  "He 
fought  his  battles  open-handed  and  above  board,  and 
consequently  his  bitterest  enemies  were  his  strongest 
friends."  His  differences  with  them  were  differences 
of  opinion,  and  he  never  allowed  them  to  influence  him 
in  his  relation  with  his  fellow-students.  His  paper  on 
"The  College  Fraternity"  shows  that  he  saw  more 
deeply  into  the  nature  of  the  issue  than  most  of  his 
friends.  He  saw  that  the  fight  against  fraternities 
was  only  a  part  of  the  "eternal  struggle  of  the  individ- 
ual against  the  organization."  He  believed  that  his 
brother  Plato,  who  had  also  in  his  own  conservative 
way  fought  for  the  literary  societies  as  opposed  to  the 
fraternities,  touched  the  heart  of  the  principle  involved 
when  he  said :  "No  institution  can  be  mathematically 
constructed,  fitly  jointed  and  bolted  together,  so  as  to 
bid  defiance  to  decay  and  change ;  they  must  be  his- 
torically evolved  from  the  people's  life  and  periodically 
adjusted  to  the  wants  and  necessities  of  the  time,  so 
that,  growing  with  the  transmitted  vitalities  of  the 
past,  they  shall  be  elastic  with  the  living  blood  of  the 
present."  John  saw  also,  as  some  of  his  friends  failed 
to  see,  that  the  fraternityman  and  the  non-fraternity- 
man  represent  two  distinct  and  abiding  classes  of  men. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  33 

"The  fraternityman  represents  largely  the  idea  of 
absolutism,  of  loyalty  to  party,  of  submergence  of  the 
individual,  and  of  the  supremacy  of  the  organization. 
The  non-fraternityman  stands  for  individuality." 

As  editor  of  the  "White  and  Blue,"  so  the  editor-in- 
chief  testifies,  John  did  his  part  faithfully  and  well. 
He  wrote  chiefly  editorials  and  book  reviews,  exam- 
ples of  which  are  contained  in  this  volume.  But,  as 
much  as  he  was  interested  in  the  success  of  his  paper 
and  his  party,  he  never  lost  sight  of  other  interests 
equally  important;  and  he  still  maintained  his  high 
standing  in  his  classes  and  literary  society. 

While  still  a  Sophomore,  John  was  elected  one  of 
three  representatives  of  the  Dialectic  Society  for  the 
inter-society  oratorical  contest  at  the  Commencement 
of  1894.  For  this  occasion  he  wrote  his  oration,  "A 
Plea  for  American  Commerce."  The  Aledal  was 
awarded  to  Mr.  H.  H.  Home,  of  the  Philanthropic 
Society,  now  Professor  of  the  History  of  Education 
and  Philosophy  in  New  York  University  and  one  of 
the  University's  most  distinguished  alumni. 

In  his  Junior  year  John  was  again  a  representative  of 
the  Di  Society,  this  time  in  an  inter-society  debate 
with  the  "Phis"  held  on  March  4,  1895.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Phi  Society  were  Messrs.  V.  A. 
Batchelor  and  J.  O.  Carr ;  John's  colleague  was  Mr.  J. 
E.  Little.  The  "Tar  Heel"  speaks  of  the  debate  in 
the  following  terms :  "The  order  of  the  entire  discus- 
sion was  of  so  high  a  degree  of  excellence  that  special 
mention  is  hardly  in  place.  It  is  sufficient  to  add  that 
so  long  as  the  work  of  the  Literary  Societies  is  typi- 
fied by  such  productions  as  these,  their  relation  as  a 
permanent  factor  of  the  University  will  remain  as 
fundamental  and  vital  as  of  yore."     The  debate  was 


34  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

won  by  the  "Phis."     John's  debate  is  printed  in  an- 
other part  of  this  volume. 

In  1895  John  won  the  Essa)dst's  Medal  in  the  Di 
Society.  In  April  of  this  year  also  he  won  the  Best 
Debater's  Medal  in  the  same  Society,  being  the  third 
member  of  the  family  to  win  this  unusual  honor.  A 
portion  of  the  debate  spoken  in  this  contest  is  also 
contained  in  this  volume. 

John,  as  always,  spent  his  last  summer  at  home  read- 
ing and  working  upon  his  father's  farm.  He  was  the 
j oiliest  and  merriest  of  companions  and  the  most  duti- 
ful and  affectionate  of  sons ;  and  little  did  his  loved 
ones  at  home  think,  as  they  beheld  him  so  full  of  life 
and  promise,  that  they  should  see  him  in  health  no 
more.  And  little  cause  there  seemed  to  think  of  such 
things  as  he  returned  to  the  University,  buoyant  with 
life  and  hope,  to  reap  yet  richer  honors  than  any  he 
had  yet  won. 

In  October,  1895,  John  became  President  of  the  Al- 
pha Theta  Phi  Society.  This  Society  had  been  founded 
by  Dr.  H.  C.  Tolman,  Professor  of  Greek  at  the  Uni- 
versity and  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society. 
The  object  of  the  new  organization,  as  stated  in  its 
constitution,  was  to  "stimulate  an  increased  desire  for 
sound  scholarship"  in  the  University.  The  Society  had 
a  very  useful  and  honorable  place  in  the  life  and  work 
of  the  University  and  was  finally  merged  into  the 
National  B.  K.  Society  in  1904.  The  Greek  letters. 
Alpha  Theta  Phi,  stood  for  the  Greek  motto,  "Aletheia 
thumon  phos,"' or,  in  Latin,  Veritas  animi  lux,  both 
of  which  mean  "Truth  the  light  of  the  mind."  The 
badge  of  the  Society  (see  cut,  p.  74)  was  a  triangular 
shield  in  the  shape  of  the  Greek  letter  Delta.  This  letter 
stood  for  duo,  the  Greek  word  tivo;  and  "two"  (90  to 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  35 

95  per  cent.)  was  the  grade  required  for  admission 
to  membership.  Since  the  exact  percentage  of  the 
grades  was  never  reported,  the  grade  required,  when 
all  the  marks  were  averaged,  was  not  90,  but  92^^ 
per  cent.  The  president  and  secretary  of  the  Society 
were  those  members  of  the  Senior  Class  whose  grades 
throughout  their  college  course  had  been  highest.  As 
already  stated,  the  class  of  '96  was  an  unusually  bril- 
liant class.  It  furnished  eight  members  to  the  Society, 
while  the  class  of  '94  had  only  one  representative,  the 
class  of  '95  only  two,  and  the  class  of  '97  only  six. 
John  was  justly  proud  of  being  the  first  honor  man  in 
his  class ;  and  bis  record  after  election  shows  not, 
as  has  sometimes  been  the  case,  a  decline  in  scholar- 
ship, but  a  steady  improvement  to  the  very  end. 

Soon  after  Christmas,  1895,  a  joint  debate  with  the 
University  of  Virginia  was  proposed;  and  tentative 
arrangements  were  made  that  the  debate  should  be 
held  in  Charlottesville  in  April  or  May;  but  owing  to 
inability  to  agree  upon  terms  the  contest  never  came 
off.  John  was  elected  by  the  Di  Society  as  its  strong- 
est representative  for  the  debate ;  and  he  gave  up  his 
position  on  the  "Tar  Heel"  to  prepare  his  speech.  He 
would  have  enjoyed  the  debate  and  would  have  ac- 
quitted himself  well,  for  he  loved  a  contest,  and  the 
two  Universities  had  long  been  rivals  for  athletic  and 
literary  honors.  When  the  joint  debate  was  first  pro- 
posed, the  "Tar  Heel"  had  said :  "With  such  able  rep- 
resentatives as  Herman  Harrell  Home  and  John  C. 
Eller,  we  should  be  sure  of  a  victory  whether  this 
'literary  contest'  be  waged  in  Virginia  or  Carolina." 

During  the  spring  of  1896,  as  his  college  career  was 
rapidly  drawing  to  a  close,  John  thought  much  of 
what  he  should  do  after  graduation;  for  he  had  never 


36  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

definitely  decided  what  vocation  in  life  he  should  pur- 
sue. He  had  already  some  time  before  this,  refused  a 
chance  to  enter  West  Point  offered  him  by  Colonel  W. 
H.  H.  Cowles,  representative  in  Congress  from  north- 
western North  Carolina.  Once  he  seems  to  have 
thought  of  attempting  journalism,  having,  like  his  co- 
editor,  Mr.  H.  E.  C.  Bryant,  learned  its  fascination  on 
the  staff  of  the  "White  and  Blue;"  and  there  is  still 
extant  a  letter  from  Mr.  Josephus  Daniels,  in  which 
he  states  that,  much  to  his  regret,  there  is  no  position 
on  the  staff  of  the  "Raleigh  News  and  Observer"  which 
he  could  offer  him.  For  a  time  John  thought  of  re- 
turning to  Chapel  Hill  to  study  law,  as  he  long  in- 
tended to  do,  even  if  he  should  never  practice  it;  but 
his  college  expenses  had  burdened  his  parents  so  heav- 
ily that  he  decided  to  teach.  The  great  ambition  of 
his  heart  was  to  study  political  economy  and  other  sub- 
jects related  to  law  in  one  of  the  great  Northern  Uni- 
versities. The  authorities  at  Harvard  wrote  him  that 
they  would  admit  him  to  the  Senior  Class  to  graduate 
if  he  did  "well  in  five  approved  courses,"  and  with  his 
brother's  promise  of  assistance  this  was  what  he 
finally  decided  to  do.  Just  what  vocation  in  life  John 
would  have  followed  had  he  lived  is  not  known.  His 
father  has  always  thought  that  eventually  he  would 
probably  have  become  a  writer ;  some  of  his  college 
mates  predicted  for  him  a  brilliant  career  as  a  leader 
of  men  in  law,  or  politics,  or  journalism. 

It  was  during  this  spring  that  John  wrote  his  thesis 
on  "What  Is  Morality?"  The  subject  had  interested 
him  for  some  time.  Like  most  eager,  intelligent  stu- 
dents, John  passed  through  a  period  of  religious 
unrest.  His  poem,  "The  Doubter,"  probably  written 
at  this  time,  shows  that  he  assumed  the  noblest  attitude 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  37 

toward  the  questions  that  beset  him.  He  did  not  be- 
come disheartened  and  throw  his  opinions  to  the  winds, 
replacing  them  by  new  ones  borrowed  from  others; 
but  he  calmly,  hopefully,  and  untiringly  sought  the 
solution  of  his  difficulties;  and  this  carefully  prepared 
work  proves  that,  for  himlself  at  least,  he  had  found  it. 

In  view  of  his  interest  in  the  study  of  moral  and 
religious  questions,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  John 
attempting  to  use  the  material  he  had  collected  as  the 
basis  of  a  commencement  oration.  As  first  written, 
this  oration  was  entitled  "Morality  and  Life."  He 
spoke  this  in  the  preliminary  contest  held  to  select  the 
six  best  speakers  of  the  Senior  Class  to  take  part  in 
the  annual  commencement  contest  for  the  Willie  P. 
Mangum  Medal  for  Oratory.  The  "Tar  Heel"  says  of 
this  preliminary  contest :  "As  to  the  speeches,  they  were 
of  a  higher  average  than  we  have  ever  known  in  preced- 
ing contests ;  and  we  are  sure  that  our  Senior  Orators 
will  not  fail  to  win  the  admiration  of  a  Commencement 
audience  as  well  as  the  respect  of  Vice-President  Ste- 
venson himself"  (who  had  been  invited  to  deliver  the 
annual  commencement  address). 

John  decided  just  before  the  preliminary  contest  that 
his  oration  still  too  closely  resembled  a  thesis  to  suc- 
ceed as  a  popular  oration.  He  therefore  rewrote  it  en- 
tire and  at  his  brother's  suggestion  gave  it  a  new  title, 
"Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man."  In  the  writings  of  his 
which  we  have  included  in  the  present  volume,  we  have 
given  this  oration  the  place  of  honor,  because  we  be- 
lieve that,  in  spite  of  the  very  limited  time  in  which  it 
was  written,  it  represents  his  highest  achievement, 
both  in  expression  and  in  thought. 

As  John  had  foreseen,  the  real  contest  for  the  Medal 
lay  between  himself  and  a  brilliant  young  orator  of 


38  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

the  Philanthropic  Society,  Mr.  Richard  Gold  Alls- 
brook.  John  believed  that  in  thought  at  least  he  had 
the  better  speech;  but  he  realized  that  his  oration 
would  not  appeal  to  the  Commencement  audience  as 
would  his  rival's  speech  on  "The  Christian  State."  He 
felt  handicapped  also  by  the  weakness  of  his  voice  (he 
had  been  somewhat  troubled  with  tonsilitis)  when 
matched  against  the  magnificently  full  and  powerful 
voice  of  his  competitor.  But  when  the  Medal  was 
awarded  to  Mr.  Allsbrook,  although  one  of  the  three 
judges  had  held  out  for  him  to  the  last,  he  concealed 
his  disappointment  and  joined  in  the  congratulations 
showered  upon  the  victor.  He  felt  that  with  the  hon- 
ors he  had  already  won,  the  presidency  of  his  class  and 
of  the  Alpha  Theta  Phi  Society  and  the  magna  cum 
laude  with  which  he  had  received  the  degree  of  Bache- 
lor of  Philosophy,  he  might  well  be  content. 

When  he  had  spoken  the  last  words  of  the  Class 
Farewell  and,  after  bidding  his  friends  good-bye,  had 
started  for  home  with  his  brother,  who  had  come  from 
Winston  to  see  him  graduate,  there  was  none  perhaps 
to  whom  the  thought  occurred  that  the  brilliant  future 
which  seemed  so  certain  for  him  was  destined  never  to 
have  its  realization  on  earth.  The  good-byes  of  his 
friends  may  have  recalled  to  John's  mind  a  poem 
which  his  friend  and  co-editor  of  the  "White  and 
Blue,"  Mr.  Henry  A.  Grady,  had  written  on  bidding 
farewell  to  the  University  some  time  before : 

"TO  MY  FRIENDS  ELLER  AND  SHARPE." 

Farewell,  farewell  forever,  boys; 

The  hours  roll  on  towards  day; 
When  night  shall  come  again,  boys, 

I'll  be  far,  far  away. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  39 

•"T'is  hard  to  leave  you  now,  boys. 
For  Friendship  cannot  die; 
And  yet  the  tear  we  smother  here 
Bespeaks  a  deeper  tie. 

"  'Tis  love  that  binds  us  here,  boys, 
'Tis  love  I  bear  away; 
And  though  I  leave  you  now,  boys, 
I'll  come  another  day. 

"Perhaps  that  day  is  distant,  boys, 
Perhaps  the  heavenly  light 
Will  meet  our  view  when  we  renew 
The  bond  we  break  to-night." 

The  last  stanza  seems  like  a  presentiment  of  coming 
death.  John  said  later  that  it  was  during  the  last  days 
of  Commencement  that  he  felt  the  first  touch  of  the 
fever  that  was  to  prove  fatal  to  him,  as  to  his  brother 
before  him.  The  labor  spent  in  the  preparation  of  his 
oration  probably  overtaxed  his  constitution  and  made 
him  an  easier  prey  to  disease.  Accompanied  by  his 
brother,  he  arrived  at  his  father's  home  in  Ashe  about 
the  seventh  of  June.  He  continued  to  grow  worse,  and 
the  second  day  he  was  compelled  to  take  to  the  bed 
from  which  he  was  never  to  rise  again.  The  attention 
of  physician,  of  parents,  of  brothers,  and  of  the  only 
sister,  who  had  come  home  to  assist  in  the  nursing, 
were  all  in  vain.  An  award  of  a  two  hundred  dollar 
scholarship  from  Harvard  University  that  came  while  he 
was  lying  ill  seemed  to  cheer  him  for  only  a  moment, 
and  so,  too,  letters  from  devoted  college  friends,  and 
the  following  sympathetic  letter  from  President  Win- 
ston to  his  brother,  showing  a  tie  binding  teacher  and 
pupil  seldom  paralleled : 


40  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

PRESIDENT  G.  T.  WINSTON  TO  A..  H.  ELLER. 

Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  June  27,  1896. 

My  Dear  Eller:  —  I  have  been  grieved  beyond  words  to 
hear  of  your  brother's  illness  with  fever.  He  was  looking  tired 
and  run  down  at  Commencement,  and  I  felt  some  solicitude  for 
him;  but  I  never  entertained  the  awful  thought  that  he  would 
have  fever.  Please  give  him  my  love.  Tell  hiin  to  keep  up  hope. 
Tell  him  that  he  and  I  shall  need  to  stand  side  by  side  again 
and  fight  some  larger  battles  together  for  manhood  and  free- 
dom, even  as  we  have  fought  together  before. 

No  student  that  I  ever  taught  has  interested  me  more  than 
John.  Pardon  me  for  saying  that  I  have  regarded  him  as  the 
flower  of  your  family,  and  I  watched  him  with  such  friendly 
interest  and  solicitude.  He  is  needed  in  North  Carolina.  He 
will  get  well,  I  feel  it.  Give  my  love  and  sympathy  to  your  dear 
Father  and  Mother,  w^hom  I  have  never  seen,  but  whom  I  feel 
as  if  I  knew  well.  I  shall  be  with  you  by  that  precious  bedside 
every  day.  I  shall  see  their  boy  and  my  boy  lying  there  strug- 
gling for  life,  and  I  shall  long  day  by  day  for  news  that  he  is 
past  the  crisis.  May  God  bless  and  heal  him.  Give  him  my 
love.  G.  T.W. 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  soon  told ;  it  is  but  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  first  heartrending  tragedy.  John  Carlton 
Eller  died  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1896,  in  the  twenty- 
third  year  of  his  age,  as  widely  and  as  sincerely 
mourned  as  any  young  man  who  ever  went  out  from 
the  dear  old  University  that  he  loved.  He  was  laid 
to  rest  beside  his  brother  in  the  little  family  burying 
ground  (see  frontispiece)  that  crowns  the  hill  at  the 
foot  of  old  Phoenix  Mountain,  overlooking  their  child- 
hood home  and  the  beautiful  river  beside  it.  On  the 
east  (front)  side  of  the  monument  placed  over  his 
grave  are  his  name,  the  names  of  his  parents,  and  the 
dates  of  his  birth  and  death.  On  the  north  side  is  the 
following  extract  from  his  Senior  oration,  expressing 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  41 

the  guiding  principle  of  his  Hfe:  "The  Golden  Rule 
shall  yet  reign  supreme  as  the  basal  law  of  human  life, 
the  rich  revelation  that  crowns  the  freedom  of  man." 
On  the  south  are  the  closing  words  of  the  Class  Fare- 
well, words  of  hope  and  cheer  that  for  the  class  seem 
almost  prophetic,  but  for  him  who  spoke  them  full  of 
tragic  irony : 

"j\Iay  each  one  of  us  carve  enduring  figures  of 
righteous  achievement  on  the  tablet  of  his  time,  and 
live  a  beacon-life  of  manliness  and  power." 

On  the  west  is  written :  "President  of  the  Class  of 
1896,  U.  N.  C,  where  he  graduated  first  in  ability,  first 
in  honor,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  all." 

The  grief  of  father  and  mother  was  almost  unbear- 
able, for  this  second  stroke  of  the  Destroyer  recalled 
in  all  of  its  bitterness  the  grief  of  four  years  before. 
One  does  not  wonder  if  for  a  time  life  seemed  no 
longer  worth  living.  Truly  it  seemed  that,  in  the 
language  of  the  great  English  poet, 

"the  good  die  first, 
And  they  whose  hearts  are  dry  as  summer  dust 
Burn  to  the  socket." 

With  the  burial  of  those  that  they  had  loved  and 
lived  for,  home  seemed  home  no  longer — but  their  faith 
in  the  essential  nobleness  of  life  and  in  the  all-wise 
providence  of  Him  who  ordained  it  has  remained  un- 
shaken ;  and  they  find  peace  in  the  assurance  that  the 
unfulfilled  promise  of  those  whom  they  love  has  its 
own  blessed  realization  in  a  happier  w^orld,  and  that 
the  sacrifices  made  that  they  might  be  trained  for  use- 
fulness here  render  their  life  beyond  the  grave  larger 
and  sweeter  and  truer. 


42  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

In  silent  majesty  the  mountain  stands 
Serene  and  kinglike  in  his  robes  of  blue; 
The  river,  like  a  queen,  falls  round  his  feet, 
Embracing  each  loved  feature  with  her  hands; 
In  fields  with  summer's  choicest  blossoms  strew^n 
The  song-birds  chant  their  hymns  of  joy  and  peace; 
The  sky  is  pure,  wthout  a  stain  save  one. 
As,  winding  down  you  silver  stream,  a  cloud 
Lets  fall  its  own  dark  shadow  on  two  stones 
That  stand  like  Death  beside  the  gates  of  Heaven, 
The  one  dark  blot  upon  a  perfect  scene. 
What  mean  those  pale  and  stern  death-tokens  here? 
Two  noble  sons,  sprung  from  the  mountain  soil, 
Radiant  with  hope  and  promise,  lie  at  rest 
Beneath  their  native  sod. 

The  love  of  truth, 
Of  liberty,  and  right,  the  mountain's  strength, 
The  river's  yielding  softness,  and  the  grand 
All-mastering  eloquence  of  Nature's  voice 
Grew  in  them  as  they  grew.    The  eldest  first, 
With  single  eye  and  steadfast  heart  and  hand, 
Went  forth  to  join  those  dauntless  few  who  seek, 
Like  knights  of  old,  the  Grail  of  holiest  truth. 
Honors  that  came  unsought,  pleasure,  nor  pain 
Could  turn  him  from  that  sacred  quest  till  Death 
Came,  like  a  thief  by  night;  then  lifeless  fell 
The  outstretched  hand  that  all  but  touched  the  goal. 
The  youngest,  bright  and  merry  as  a  girl, 
But  strong  and  true  as  David,  went  alone 
To  fight  his  battles  where  his  brother  fell; 
And  won  them  but  to  lay  his  laurels  dow^n 
Before  his  mother's  feet, — and  fall,  like  him. 
Death's  victim — dead  beside  the  open  gate 
Of  life  and  hope. 

Why  thus  the  good  alone 
'Die  young,'  the  bad  who  cannot  live,  survive. 
Hopeless  we  ask  of  thee,  stern  Fate,  and  hear 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  43 

A  still  voice  answering  from  each  hill  and  stream; 
'Tis  Nature's  voice,  or  God's  perchance,  that  speaks: 
"Peace,  peace,  all  ye  that  mourn!    It  is  not  death; 
In  fields  where  gleams  the  light  eternal,  there 
Their  happy  lot  is  cast.    They  still  uplift 
The  fallen,  cheer  the  faint,  assist  the  strong 
In  every  battle  waged  for  truth  and  right. 
Their  memory  yet  shall  cheer  the  hearts  of  men 
To  loftier  heights  of  nobleness  and  power." 
The  cloud  has  faded  into  nothingness; 
Serene  and  kinglike,  still  the  mountain  stands 
Beside  his  post  of  old;  the  birds  still  chant 
Their  hymns  of  peace  and  joy;  the  river's  voice 
Laughingly  murmurs,  like  a  sleeping  child. 
Of  rest  and  peace  within  the  boundless  sea. 

J.  B.  H. 


44  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 


Uulroductlon  to  "Cetters  anb  Orlbutes 

The  following  letters  and  tributes  are  included  in 
this  volume  because  we  wish  them  preserved  in  perma- 
nent form  that  friends  and  relatives  may  read  them. 
It  is  our  earnest  wish  that  they  may  stimulate  those 
who  never  knew  our  loved  ones  as  their  college  asso- 
ciates knew  them,  to  emulate  them  in  lofty  purpose  and 
noble  achievement. 

As  this  book  is  printed  for  distribution  only  among 
relatives  and  friends,  it  has  not  been  thought  necessary 
to  ask  the  permission  of  all  the  authors  in  printing  them. 
Indeed,  this  could  not  have  been  done,  for  the  ad- 
dresses of  some  of  them  were  unknown  or  unobtain- 
able in  the  short  time  in  which  this  volume  Was  pre- 
pared. 

Nothing  but  voluntary  tributes  are  found  in  this 
book.  A  few  intimate  college  friends  were  allowed 
the  privilege  of  writing  short  tributes;  but  in  no  case 
was  there  a  request  for  a  contribution. 

On  account  of  the  necessary  requirements  of  space 
and  suitability  for  inclusion  in  this  volume,  many  let- 
ters have  been  omitted  or  represented  only  by  extracts. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  45 

'Grlbules  anb  "Cetters  TJcrtalnlng  to  l^^  ^ife 
anb  (Tl^aracter  of  "y.  ^Jllato  ^ller 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  RESPECT. 

ChapeIv  Hill,  N.  C,  October  18,  1892. 

We,  the  fellow-classmates  of  our  late  deceased 
friend,  Franklin  Plato  Eller,  of  Berlin,  Ashe  County, 
North  Carolina,  desiring  to  put  forth  to  the  public  and 
his  family  some  manifestation  of  the  great  loss  and 
sorrow  we  suffered  in  his  death  on  June  15  at  this 
University,  do  adopt  the  following  resolutions : 

first,  That  in  his  death  our  Class  suffered  the  severe 
loss  of  one  of  its  brightest  members  and  one  whose 
friendship  and  kindly  presence  will  be  achingly  missed  ; 

Second,  That  his  purity  of  life,  his  gentlemanly  con- 
duct, and  manly  character  while  among  us  elicited  only 
our  highest  esteem ; 

Third,  That  we,  his  friends  and  classmates,  will  long 
bear  in  mind  the  high  example  of  his  life  and  remember 
his  absence  from  among  us  with  that  regret  which  sor- 
row occasions ; 

Fourth,  That  we  extend  our  deepest  sympathy  to 
those  upon  Whom  the  cruel  blow  of  his  death  fell  most 
heavily,  begging  them  to  draw  consolation  from  the 
fact  that  his  life  was  a  worthy  one ; 

Fifth,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the 
family  of  our  late  friend  and  that  they  be  printed  in 
the  Raleigh  Neivs  and  Observer,  the  Winston  Daily 
Sentinel,  and  the  Charlotte  Observer. 

Howard  E.  RondthalEr, 
F.  C.  Harding, 
Victor  Hugh  Boyden, 
Committee  of  the  Class  of  '93. 


46  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

With  this  tribute  of  respect  the  parents  received  the 
following  letter  from  Victor  Hugh  Boyden,  who  was 
elected  president  of  the  Class  of  '93  to  succeed  Plato 
Eller : 

I  enclose  you  by  this  mail  Resolutions  of  Respect, 
to  the  memory  of  your  late  son,  passed  by  his  class. 
As  president  of  the  class  let  me  assure  you  that  they 
express  but  poorly  the  deep  sympathy  which  we  feel 
for  yourself  and  wife,  and  the  loss  we  endured  in  his 
death.     I  am,  with  the  highest  esteem. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Victor  Hugh  Boyden. 


KEMP  P.  BATTLE,  PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY  AND  EX- 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY,  TO 
A.  H.  ELLER. 

June,  1892. 

My  Dear  Mr.  EllEr: — I  do  not  recall  a  better  or 
more  promising  student  than  your  brother.  I  was  very 
proud  of  him  and  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  he 
would  be  an  honor  to  the  University  among  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  country.  God  wills  it  otherwise.  He 
needs  him  around  his  throne.  We  shall  understand  it 
all  some  day.  You  and  his  parents  have  my  profound- 
est  sympathy.  May  God  grant  balm  to  your  wounded 
spirits ! 

I  went  up  almost  every  day  to  enquire  about  your 
brother,  but  feared  that  company  would  be  an  evil  to 
him.  I  much  regretted  that  I  could  do  nothing  for 
him. 

I  would  like  to  know  your  parents  better.  The  good 
training  shown  by  their  two  children  whom  I  have  seen, 
convinces    me    that   they    are    very    superior   people. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  47 

Please  assure  them  of  my  warmest  condolence  in  their 
bereavement.  Tell  them  that  Franklin  was  a  "talent" 
lent  them  by  the  Almighty,  the  good  King.  They  have 
restored  this  talent  to  the  King  doubled  and  trebled  by 
their  faithful  care.  They  have  earned  the  glorious 
plaudit,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant!" 

Sincerely  yours, 

Ke;mp  p.  Battle;. 


PROFESSOR  H.  H.  WILLIAMS  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  October  1,  '97. 
My  Dear  Sir  : — I  am  glad  you  have  in  mind  to  write 
of  your  two  brothers.  It  is  a  fitting  thing  to  be  done ; 
in  fact,  I  have  not  adjusted  myself  to  the  facts;  it 
seems  such  a  waste.  F.  P.  Eller  was  engaged  upon  a 
thesis  for  me  when  he  was  taken  ill.  The  speech  was 
an  application  of  the  ideas  worked  out  for  the  thesis. 
The  thesis  was  never  finished.  And  this  was  the  only 
writing  he  did  for  me.  I  should  be  glad  to  see  the 
speech  printed  entire.  It  has  been  done  some  time 
since  I  have  read  it,  but  I  recall  that  it  impressed  me  as 
being  uncommonly  strong  and  clear.  It  is  the  sort  of 
speech  that  sets  one  thinking.     With  best  wishes,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

H.  H.  Williams. 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  FROM  PRESIDENT  G.  T. 
WINSTON   TO   JAMES   ELLER. 

September  30,  1894. 
Since  my  connection  with  the  University  nothing  has 
given  me  more  pleasure  than  my  very  agreeable  rela- 
tions with  your  sons ;  and  nothing  has  grieved  me  more 


48  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

than  the  untimely  death  of  your  gifted  boy,  who  so 
often  charmed  us  all  by  his  powerful  gifts  as  a  debater. 
I  doubt  not  God  is  using  him  to  nobler  purposes  and  is 
making  radiant  his  splendid  talents. 


EXTRACT    FROM    A   LETTER    OF    DR.    R.    H.    WHITE- 
HEAD, ATTENDING  PHYSICIAN  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

The  death  of  your  brother  was  a  very  sad  thing  to 
me  personally,  and  a  loss  to  the  University.  He  had 
the  unqualified  admiration  of  both  students  and  fac- 
ulty. The  death  of  such  young  men  as  he  was  is  al- 
ways a  public  calamity.  I  would  be  glad  if  you  would 
express  to  his  parents  my  sincere  sympathy  with  them. 


T.  J.  COOPER  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Murphy,  N.  C,  June  21,  '92. 

DijAR  Mr.  EllEr: — Imagine  my  grief  and  surprise 
when  I  learned  the  sad  news.  I  had  just  written  you 
a  long  congratulatory  letter  on  his  rapid  improvement 
inviting  you  both  to  visit  me  while  he  recuperated.  I 
leave  you  to  conjecture  how  deeply  I  feel  and  how 
much  I  sympathize  with  you  and  those  others  he  held 
dearer  than  myself. 

He  was  my  room  mate  and  my  friend — perhaps  the 
truest  I  had  in  the  University — certainly  the  most 
esteemed.  We  affiliated  more  or  less  while  we  were 
freshmen ;  then  I  dropped  out  a  year ;  and  last  year  we 
both  returned  and  became  associated  in  all  our  little 
college  matters,  adhering  to  the  same  principles  and 
sharing  the  same  fortunes.  And  in  all  things  he 
proved  worthy  the  highest  confidence  and  the  greatest 
reward.  I  had  the  utmost  respect  for  his  opinions, 
and  was  often  guided  by  his  sober  judgment  when  my 


JOHN  CARLTOX  ELLER  49 

own  implusive  nature  would  have  precipitated  me  into 
difficulties.  I  wish  I  could  say  something  to  console 
you;  but  all  that  I  could  say  would  but  magnify  your 
loss  and  aggravate  your  sorrow — I  have  nothing  but 
praises  for  him.  Your  sincere  friend, 

T.  J.  Cooper. 


F.  C.  HARDING  TO  MR.  AND  MRS.  JAilBS  ELLER. 

Greenville,  N.  C,  June  19,  1892. 

My  Dear  Sir  and  AIadam  : — I  have  just  received 
letters  from  the  University  announcng  the  death  of 
your  son.  I  am  deeply  grieved  by  his  death.  He  was 
my  dearest  friend  and  classmate  at  the  University ;  and 
our  college  and  social  relations  while  there  made  me 
feel  more  closely  bound  to  him  than  to  any  other  mem- 
ber of  our  class.  He  was  almost  like  a  brother  to  me. 
I  knew  him  in  the  class  room,  I  knew  'him  outside  of 
the  college  walls  as  he  mingled  among  the  people  of  the 
village,  and,  best  of  all,  I  knew  him  as  he  was  in  his 
own  private  room ;  it  was  there  that  I  learned  his  true 
nature,  and  it  was  there  that  I  learned  to  regard  him 
with  that  unchanging  friendship  which  so  strongly 
bound  us  together. 

We  were  intimately  associated  together  during  our 
whole  career  at  the  University,  and  especially  so  during 
the  last  year.  We  were  society  representatives  at  the 
same  time,  and  only  a  few  weeks  ago  we  were  both 
elected  as  first  editors  of  the  University  Magazine,  he 
from  the  Di  Society  and  myself  from  the  Phi;  and  in 
many  other  instances  we  were  intimately  associated  to- 
gether. I  honestly  believe  I  knew  him  better  than  any 
one  else  knew  him,  and  I  told  my  mother  before  I 
heard  of  his  death,  that  F.  P.  Eller  was  my  ideal  gen- 


50  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

tleman,  for  there  was  no  one  who  possessed  more 
splendid  qualities  of  character  than  he.  He  was  a 
true,  noble  man  and  was  always  actuated  by  the  very 
highest  sense  of  honor. 

I  truly  sympathize  with  you  in  your  sorrow.  I  feel 
that  I  have  lost  my  dearest  friend  from  my  class. 
With  tefiderest  sympathy,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

F.  C.  Harding. 


PLATO  COLLINS  TO  A.  H.  ELLEE. 

KiNSTON,  N.  C,  June  30,  1892. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  have  been  intending  to  write  you 
a  letter  since  the  fifteenth  of  June,  but  have  thought  it 
best  to  wait  a  few  days.  In  the  loss  of  your  brother, 
F.  P.  Eller,  I  sincerely  sympathize  with  you  and  share 
your  sorrow  in  no  small  degree.  I  knew  him  inti- 
mately as  a  friend,  but  I  felt  that  I  was  an  adopted 
brother  of  his.  F.  C.  Harding,  F.  P.  Eller,  and  I  were 
a  trio  of  friends,  almost  brothers.  I  am  proud  that  I 
was  the  friend  of  so  noble  a  young  man.  I  say  with- 
out hesitation  that  he  and  Harding  are  the  noblest, 
truest  young  men  I  have  ever  known.  I  loved  him  be- 
cause he  would  have  died  fighting  for  his  convictions. 
I  loved  him  for  the  heart  and  noble  manhood  that  was 
in  him.  He  was  as  stalwart  in  character  as  he  was  in 
stature.  I  loved  him  also  for  the  glorious  promise  of 
his  young  life.  His  future  seemed  so  bright.  He  was 
a  worker.  He  labored  with  diligence,  with  system  for 
the  accomplishment  of  his  life's  noble  purpose— the 
perfection  of  the  highest  character  and  the  best 
intellect. 

It  seems  so  strange,  so  mysterious,  that  he  should  be 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  51 

cut  down  when  we  could  have  spared  so  many  lesser 
souls,  when  we  could  have  spared  so  many  smaller 
minds.  But  Harding  wrote  me  that  perhaps  it  was  to 
make  the  heavenly  shore  brighter  and  more  alluring  to 
us.  Perhaps  so ;  I  know  it  is  to  me.  Oh,  I  would  give 
anything  if  I  could  call  mine  to  be  with  "Eller"  an  hour, 
to  sit  and  talk  with  his  soul,  as  I  used  to  talk  to  his  soul 
in  his  room  and  in  mine,  and  when  walking  in  Battle's 
Park.  Believe  me  when  I  say  that  the  death  of  no  one 
outside  of  my  father  and  mother  could  have  crushed 
me  as  has  the  death  of  my  truest  and  best  friend.  I 
cannot  fully  realize  that  he  is  gone.  I  am  glad  my 
college  days  are  ended. 

When  I  left  him  on  the  second  day  of  June,  he  would 
not  let  go  my  hand,  and  when  I  turned  and  saw  his 
eyes  filling,  I  could  not  restrain  myself  any  longer,  but 
burst  into  tears  as  a  child.  We  wept  together  and  I 
left  him ;  the  last  words  I  ever  heard  him  utter  were, 
"Oh,  Collins,  I  hate  to  see  you  leave  me."  If  I  had 
known  that  I  was  leaving  him  forever,  I  would  have 
remained  with  him. 

Only  the  week  before  he  was  stricken  down,  he  did 
me  a  service  that  no  one  else  could  have  done  and 
which  I  would  have  trusted  to  no  other.  Some  day  I 
shall  visit  his  grave  if  my  life  is  spared.  I  do  not 
know  your  father's  and  mother's  names,  but  please 
convey  to  them  that  the  heart  of  his  friend  mourns 
with  them  the  loss  of  the  true  and  noble  boy.  I  have 
never  met  you,  but  I  feel  that  I  know  you  because  you 
are  his  brother.  I  heard  you  at  the  Alumni  banquet 
several  years  ago.  Pardon  me  for  presuming  to  ad- 
dress you,  being  a  stranger.     I  am, 

Yours  in  sorrow, 

Plato  Collins. 


52  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

BY   H.   E.   C.   BRYANT,   EDITOR  OF  THE   CHARLOTTE 
DEMOCRAT,   ISSUE  JULY   16,   1896. 

June,  four  years  ago,  Mr.  Franklin  Plato  Eller,  of 
Ashe  Q)unty,  was  to  represent  the  Dialectic  Society  in 
an  oratorical  contest  at  the  University  commencement. 
He  was  a  rising  Junior.  All  his  examinations  had  been 
passed  and  his  speech  had  been  prepared.  But  the  day 
before  the  contest  Mr.  Eller  took  sick  and  was  not  able 
to  deliver  his  oration.  The  commencement  exercises 
were  over  and  most  of  the  boys  went  home.  No  one 
dreamed  of  Filer's  dying — but  it  was  only  a  few  days 
till  death  claimed  him.  Mr.  Eller  was  considered  the 
best  orator  that  had  been  in  the  University  for  years. 
He  was  a  talented  boy.  He  was  popular  both  with  his 
fellow  pupils  and  the  faculty.  He  was  the  brainy  man 
of  college.  It  was  he  who  you  would  first  hear  of  on 
entering  the  University.  But  alas,  just  in  the  prime  of 
his  course  he  was  called  to  go.  The  same  year  in 
which  he  died  his  youngest  brother,  John  Carlton  Eller, 
entered  the  University. 

For  four  years  he  led  his  class  and  won  the  laurels 
in  oratorical  and  debating  contests  and  a  few  weeks 
ago  gained  his  diploma.  No  boy  in  college  ranked 
higher  than  he  intellectually.  He  was  a  favorite.  To- 
day he  lies  low  in  the  grave,  last  Saturday  he  was  taken 
from  his  dear  mother.  He  was  her  baby,  and  one  to 
be  proud  of. 

There  is  no  story  sadder  than  this  of  the  two  Eller 
boys.  They  were  idols  at  home  and  abroad.  There 
was  a  sadness  in  the  hearts  of  hundreds  of  Chapel  Hill 
boys  when  the  sad  news  of  John  Carlton  Filer's  death 
swept  through  the  State.  So  it  was  four  years  ago 
when  Franklin  Plato  Eller  died.  Both  having  come 
from  the  farm  and  taken  such  high  stand  in  college. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  53 

But  it  all  goes  to  show  how  certain  death  is  and  how 
uncertain  life  is.  Today  we  live  and  tomorrow  we 
may  die.  The  choicest  of  the  flock  may  fall.  Today 
we  see  a  brilliant  future  for  some  young,  hearty,  robust 
boy,  and  tomorrow  we  follow  him  to  the  grave.  To- 
day we  are  his  classmates  and  tomorrow  we  are  his 
pallbearers.  What  need  we  worry  with  the  things  of 
this  life?  Why  not  be  satisfied  with  a  comfortable 
existence  and  spend  our  extra  efforts  trying  to  make 
some  fellow  man  exist  comfortably?  Why  fret  about 
riches  when  they  are  soon  gained,  quicker  lost?  Why 
do  not  we  seek  for  honor  and  a  good  name  and  cease 
trying  for  gold  and  silver?  Will  it  ever  come?  No. 
As  long  as  man  is  'human  he  will  seek  that  material 
gain,  letting  other  far  greater  and  nobler  aims  perish. 
The  above  story  of  two  of  the  brightest  boys  that  the 
State  has  ever  had  is  sad  indeed,  and  is  one  of  many 
such.  Those  were  good  boys.  Boys  that  were  likened 
to  their  devoted  mother,  who  now  survives  them  in 
Ashe  County. 


LETTER    FROM     MISS     EMMA     V.     BAKER    TO     MRS. 

JAMES  ELLER. 

Dresden,  N.  C,  Friday  P.  M.,  June  17,  1892. 
Dear  Mrs.  EllER  : — I  have  thought  of  you  so  many 
times  today  and  wanted  so  badly  to  be  with  you  that  I 
must  do  the  next  best  thing — which  is  to  write.  My 
heart  went  out  in  sympathy  to  you  all  this  morning 
when  I  heard  of  your  deep  affliction.  I  was  never  so 
sorry  to  hear  of  a  young  friend's  death.  It  is  always 
sad  to  see  one  cut  off  in  the  bloom  of  youth.  But 
doubly  sad  to  see  one  whose  past  is  unexcelled  and 
whose  future  was  so  promising — one  whom  our  State 


54  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

was  beginning  to  feel  proud  of — one  whose  praises 
were  being  sounded  by  all  who  knew  him.  It  is  hard 
to  give  up  such  a  friend,  and  none  but  a  mother  can 
know  what  it  is  to  give  up  such  a  son.  I  sympathize 
with  you  with  all  my  heart.  I  know  you  feel  now  that 
you  can  hardly  live  without  him.  But  there  is  one  con- 
soling thought — his  young  life  had  been  well  spent. 
He  strove  for  that  which  was  noble  and  honorable  and 
praiseworthy  and  God  appreciated  his  efforts.  I  feel 
that  he  is  only  gone  to  a  better  home. 

We  will  come  to  see  you  all  as  soon  as  we  can.     All 
the  family  join  me  in  sympathy. 

Your  sincere  friend, 

Emma  V.  Baker. 


A  LAST  TEIBUTE. 
(The  Twin-City  Daily  Sentinel,  October  25,  1892). 

No  life  can  be  pure  in  its  purpose  and  strong  in  its  strife, 
And  all  life  not  be  purer  and  stronger  thereby. 

Franklin  Plato  Eller  was  born  on  the  fourth  of 
April,  1869,  at  Berlin,  Ashe  County,  N.  C.  His  early 
years  were  spent  in  his  mountain  home,  amidst  the 
lofty  peaks  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  And  they  seemed  to 
have  stamped  their  impress  upon  his  character.  Sur- 
rounded by  their  bold,  rugged  cliffs,  listening  to  their 
dashing  streams,  watching  the  change  of  seasons  as 
pictured  on  their  slopes  from  the  soft,  green  verdure 
of  the  summer,  to  the  barren,  cold  whiteness  of  their 
snow-covered  sides  in  winter,  the  boy  seemed  to  have 
absorbed  into  himself  some  of  their  firmness,  resolu- 
tion and  rugged  independence. 

His  preparatory  education  was  received  at  the  Mo- 
ravian  Falls  Academy,   and   already   while   there   he 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  55 

showed  marked  gifts  in  oratory  and  debate.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1889,  he  entered  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
hna,  taking  the  philosophical  course.  It  was  not  long 
before  Mr.  Eller's  abilities  as  a  leader  were  recognized, 
and  he  received  his  first  honor  by  being  elected  class 
president.  On  account  of  the  remoteness  of  his  home 
Mr.  Eller  always  spent  the  Christmas  holidays  here; 
which  time  he  devoted  to  his  favorite  pursuit — reading. 
In  the  gymnasium  and  athletic  field  he  was  often  to  be 
seen  and  his  powerful  fraine  and  his  fine  physique 
placed  him  among  the  leaders  in  athletic  sports. 

As  a  member  of  the  Dialectic  Society  the  deceased 
ranked  among  the  first  men.  Thrice  he  was  elected 
Inter-Society  debater ;  the  first  time  to  his  great  disap- 
pointment losing  the  debate,  but  the  Society's  esteem 
for  his  ability  was  in  no  measure  diminished,  as  was 
shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  re-elected  as  soon  as  he 
expressed  his  willingness  to  serve,  and  the  second  time 
he  was  victorious. 

Mr.  Eller  won  the  debater's  medal  in  1891  and  last 
year  was  elected  one  of  the  representatives.  By  many 
it  was  thought  that  his  death  was  due  to  overwork  oc- 
casioned by  this  speech.  Certain  it  is  that  he  entered 
into  competition  with  the  keenest  vigor  and  labored 
unceasingly  toward  the  completion  of  his  oration,  the 
subject  of  which  was  "Institutions  the  Result  of 
Growth." 

A  few  days  before  commencement  Mr.  Eller  became 
unwell  and  was  confined  to  his  bed,  still  he  hoped  to  be 
able  to  deliver  the  speech  on  which  he  had  worked  so 
hard,  but  when  the  opening  of  commencement  week 
came  and  found  him  still  in  bed,  he  quietly  laid  aside 
the  hope  and  let  it  worry  him  no  longer.  Through  the 
gayeties  of  commencement  he  lay  patiently,  saying  but 


56  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

little,  and  never  complaining.  After  the  boys  left  he 
continued  to  grow  worse,  but  under  the  devoted  nurs- 
ing of  his  brother  finally  the  fever  seemed  broken  and 
he  entertained  high  hopes  of  a  speedy  recovery,  but, 
unfortunately  blood  poisoning  and  other  complications 
set  in  and  very  suddenly  his  life  ended  on  the  morning 
of  Wednesday,  June  15. 

The  long  journey  to  his  mountain  home  was  hur- 
riedly made.  His  body  was  interred  in  the  presence 
of  the  family,  neighbors,  and  one  of  his  classmates. 
Few  more  beautiful  resting  places  are  to  be  found. 
His  grave  lies  on  the  summit  of  a  spur  of  Phoenix 
Mountain,  overlooking  a  wide  prospect  of  hill  and  val- 
ley growing  blue  in  the  dim  distance,  while  below,  the 
New  River  winds  with  a  caressing  arm  around  the 
base  of  the  mountain  now  grown  dear  to  many  hearts 
as  the  last  abode  of  the  pure,  noble,  nianly  youth. 

Howard  E.  RondthalER,  "  '93." 

Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  October  25. 


FROM  "LOCALS  AND  PERSONALS."  NORTH  CAROLINA 
UNIVERSITY    MAGAZINE.    1892,    NO.    6, 

It  will  be  with  deep  sorrow  that  the  students  of  the 
University  will  receive  the  news  of  the  death  of  F.  P. 
Eller,  '93,  which  occurred  on  Wednesday,  June  15,  at 
1  A.  M.  But  few  young  men  have  so  identified  them- 
selves with  our  University  during  a  three  years'  stay. 
The  president  of  his  class,  winner  of  the  Debater's 
Medal,  successful  contestant  in  the  fourth  Inter-Soci- 
ety debate,  Mr.  Eller  left  an  enviable  record  behind 
him,  and  he  will  be  sorely  missed  by  his  classmates  and 
friends. 

His  body  v.as  conveyed  for  interment  to  his  home  in 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  57 

Ashe  County.  A.  H.  Eller,  his  brother,  who  had  so 
faithfully  watched  by  his  bedside,  together  with  How- 
ard E.  Rondthaler,  accompanied  the  remains. 

Inasmuch  as  his  death  was  very  sudden,  the  news 
proved  a  sore  shock  to  his  parents,  and  the  happy  vaca- 
tion which  they  had  looked  forward  to,  bringing  with  it 
the  return  of  their  son,  has  proved,  through  an  inscru- 
table dispensation  of  Divine  Providence,  a  season  of 
sadness  and  sorrow. 


58  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

"tributes  anb  ^Letters  (Toncernlits  t^e  lixfc 
anb  (TbaracUr  of  1o\)n  C  TElUr 


RESOLUTIONS   OF   RESPECT. 

Dialectic  Hall,  September  15,  1896. 

Whereas,  God,  in  the  ever-wise  ordering  of  Divine 
Providence,  has  removed  from  this  life  our  friend  and 
fellow-member,  John  Carlton  Eller ;  and, 

Whereas,  The  members  of  the  Dialectic  Society  de- 
sire to  manifest  the  love  and  esteem  and  admiration  in 
which  we  held  him ;  be  it  therefore 

Resolved,  That  in  his  death,  at  Berlin,  Ashe  County, 
on  July  4,  1896,  this  Society  lost  a  devoted,  efficient 
and  honored  member,  and  this  University,  among  its 
younger  alumni,  one  whose  extraordinary  scholarship, 
mental  attainments,  and  admirable  traits  of  character 
gave  promise  of  a  useful  and  brilliant  future ; 

Resolved,  That  his  uniform  kindliness,  gentleness,  yet 
manliness,  will  ever  be  fresh  in  our  memories,  and  that 
his  life  is  worthy  of  our  emulation ; 

Resolved.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  in- 
serted upon  a  page  of  the  minutes  dedicated  to  his 
memory,  and  that  a  copy  be  sent  to  his  bereaved  family, 
and  for  publication  to  the  Tar  Heel,  News  and  Ob- 
server, and  Charlotte  Observer. 

Paul  TinslEy  Cheek, 
D.  B.  Smith, 
Burton  Craige, 

Committee. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  59 

In  the  same  issue  of  the  Tar  Heel  (September  19, 
1896)  in  which  the  above  resolutions  were  printed,  is 
found  the  following  editorial : 

''In  another  column  will  be  found  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Dialectic  Society  in  memory  of  our  late 
fellow  student,  Air.  John  C.  Eller. 

"Strange  indeed  that  one  who  only  three  months  ago 
was  in  our  midst,  full  of  life  and  in  the  exercise  of  all 
his  splendid  faculties,  should  now  be  numbered  with 
the  dead. 

"A  man  of  unusual  ability,  easily  the  leader  of  his 
class,  he  was  admired  by  all  and  dearly  beloved  by  his 
intimate  friends.  We  feel  like  exclaiming  with  Li 
Hung  Chang,  the  great  Eastern  statesman,  as  he  stood 
at  the  tomb  of  General  Grant,  'He  was  our  friend,  and 
we  loved  him.' 

"This  sudden  death  of  one  Whose  future  seemed  so 
bright  should  cause  every  thinking  man  to  look  upon 
life  more  seriously  and  prepare  for  the  end  that  comes 
sooner  or  later  to  every  man." 


OBITUARY  NOTICE,  FROM  THE  BIBLICAL  RECORDER, 

AUGUST  12,  1896. 

Eller. — John  C.  Eller,  of  Berlin,  Ashe  County, 
North  Carolina,  was  born  on  October  30,  1873,  and 
died  on  July  4,  1896.  It  was  a  heavy  blow  indeed  on 
the  hearts  of  honored  Christian  parents  at  the  secluded 
mountain  home,  where  their  noble  boy  fell  in  the  prime 
of  his  manhood,  even  as  he  returned  unto  them  wear- 
ing the  well  earned  honors  of  the  University  of  his 
State.  The  blow  struck  in  a  sore  place.  Just  four 
years  before,  another  son,  F.  P.  Eller,  full  of  talents 
and  promise,  endowed  with  marked  power  as  speaker 


60  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

and  debater,  had  also  suddenly  sickened  and  died,  at 
the  close  of  his  third  year  at  the  University.  Their 
hearts  rejoiced  in  a  son  who  had  already  risen  to  fame 
as  a  lawyer  and  brilliant  orator  in  Winston,  and  a  just 
ambition  led  them  to  hope  that  John  would  come  easily 
into  the  succession.  Of  exceptional  native  capacity, 
he  made  fine  progress,  and  took  advanced  rank  as  a 
thoughtful  and  scholarly  student  at  the  University.  In 
his  literary  society,  and  in  college  life  generally,  he 
was  recognized  as  a  leader  of  men.  His  manly  phy- 
sique, his  literary  gifts,  his  faculty  of  eloquent  speech, 
his  blending  of  kindness  of  heart  with  dignity  of  bear- 
ing, all  contributed  to  his  success.  He  was  president 
of  the  Senior  Class.  We  all  remember  his  masterly 
and  beautiful  graduating  oration  at  the  last  Commence- 
ment, "Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man,"  w^hich  well  con- 
tested the  Mangum  Medal  with  the  fine  young  prize- 
man. As  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  good  parents,  full 
of  honors  and,  it  seemed  to  us,  of  noble  vigor,  he  was 
seized  with  fever,  and  the  faithful  brother  had  the 
hopeless  task  of  nursing  him  and  the  sad  privilege  of 
sustaining  the  parents'  hearts  as  death  came.  We  do 
not  know  all  his  personal  experience  with  'his  God  and 
Saviour.  But  his  early  life  under  the  old  roof-tree, 
say  those  who  shared  it  with  him,  was  the  sweetest 
and  purest,  and  we  trust  that  in  his  hours  of  pain  and 
weakness  he  came  into  closer  fellowship  with  his  un- 
seen Friend  and  renewed  his  hold  on  the  promises  he 
had  accepted  in  his  youth.  At  fifteen,  he  had  joined 
the  Forest  Home  Baptist  Church.  Teachers,  students, 
admiring  friends  bow  with  bleeding  hearts  under  this 
sudden  stroke,  and  weep  with  those  who  weep  at  home. 
We  commend  them  tenderly  to  the  God  of  all  grace 
and  comfort.  Thomas  Hume. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  61 

FROM  THE  ALLEGHANY  STAR,  JULY  23,  1896. 

.  .  .  Burial  services  were  conducted  by  the  writer 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Rominger  in  the  presence  of  a  large  con- 
course of  people.  Brother  "Johnnie,"  as  he  was  usu- 
ally called,  professed  faith  in  Christ  on  December  15, 
1889,  was  baptized  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Forest 
Home  Baptist  Church  on  the  nineteenth  of  the  same 
month  by  Rev.  T.  M.  Duncan  and  lived  a  consistent 
member  of  the  same  until  his  death.  Though  young 
and  just  in  the  bloom  of  life,  yet  in  the  beauty  of  his 
character  and  mental  development  he  was  far  in  ad- 
vance of  his  years.  He  had  just  completed  his  educa- 
tion at  the  University  of  N.  C.  and  returned  home  a 
graduate  with  great  honors  on  the  seventh  day  of  June, 
accompanied  by  his  brother,  A.  H.  Eller,  of  Winston. 
He  was  taken  ill  the  next  day,  and  was  confined  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  Dr.  J.  O.  Wilcox  attended  him 
daily  and  did  all  that  he  could,  aided^by  the  family  and 
friends  as  nurses ;  yet  all  they  could  do  was  of  no  avail. 
Brother  Johnnie  was  loved  and  esteemed  by  all  who 
knew  him;  none  could  be  with  him  without  soon  dis- 
covering that  love  to  Christ  was  the  ruling  principle  of 
his  life.  Just  a  few  hours  before  the  end,  on  being 
asked  about  his  spiritual  condition  and  readiness  for 
death,  he  calmly  said  that  all  was  well,  that  he  was 
ready  and  willing  to  die  if  it  was  the  Lord's  will,  that 
he  had  trusted  Jesus  several  years  ago,  and  if  he  died 
he  would  go  to  rest  and  live  with  Jesus,  though  up 
until  then  he  seemed  to  think  he  would  get  well  again ; 
but  God  knows  all  things  best,  and  He  has  taken  him 
away,  and  we  should  submit  with  Christian  fortitude. 
Resolved,  first,  That  we  bow  in  humble  submission 
to  His  will,  with  the  assurance  that  while  the  death  of 


62  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

our  dear  brother  is  a  great  loss  to  us,  it  is  to  him  great 
and  eternal  gain; 

Resolved,  second,  That  the  Church  has  lost  a  worthy 
and  efficient  member;  the  family  a  noble,  dutiful  son 
and  brother;  our  country  and  community  a  good  and 
intelligent  citizen; 

Resolved,  third.  That  we  as  a  Church  tender  to  the 
bereaved  family  our  heartfelt  sympathy  and  sincere 
condolence,  and  commend  them  to  the  care  of  Him 
who  doeth  all  things  well ; 

Resolved,  fourth,  That  these  resolutions  be  spread 
on  the  Church  Book,  a  copy  be  given  the  bereaved  fam- 
ily, and  a  copy  be  sent  to  the  Alleghany  Star  and  the 
Jefferson  Times.  R.  L.  ShoaP,  Com. 

Approved  by  the  Church  July  U,  1896. 


LETTERS  FROM  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  FACULTY 


PRESIDENT  G.  T.  WINSTON  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

July  30,  1896. 
My  Dkar  Sir: — The  death  of  your  noble  brother 
grieves  and  distresses  me  beyond  words.  I  can 
scarcely  realize  it.  There  was  no  one  of  my  pupils  for 
whom  I  felt  more  affectionate  admiration,  or  whose 
future  seemed  so  full  of  promise.  There  must  be  need 
of  him  in  the  other  world,  for  surely  so  strong  and 
noble  and  beautiful  a  life  would  not  have  been  so 
quickly  terminated  here. 

May   heaven   bind   up   the   wounded   hearts   of   his 
father  and  mother.     Oh,  how  awful  it  is ! 
Your  friend  and  the  friend  of  him, 

Geo.  T.  Winston. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  63 

EX-PRESIDENT  KEMP  P.  BATTLE  TO  JAMES  ELLER. 

July  16,  1896. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  do  not  remember  being  more 
grieved  at  the  death  of  any  one,  except  one  of  my  own 
near  relatives,  than  I  was  at  the  death  of  your  son, 
John.  It  is  to  me  an  awful  and  mysterious  stroke, 
because  there  has  not  been  a  case  of  typhoid  fever 
among  the  citizens  of  Chapel  Hill.  Your  son  was  so 
strong  and  so  full  of  vigor,  so  able  bodily  and  mentally, 
so  full  of  promise  in  every  way  that  I  counted  cer- 
tainly on  a  long  and  prosperous  life  for  him,  and 
trusted  that  he  would  be  an  honor  to  the  University 
and  the  State.  His  death  smote  my  heart  with  a  bitter 
stroke.  There  is  no  other  consolation  to  you  or  to  us 
of  the  University,  except  God's  promise  that  all  things 
work  for  good  to  those  that  love  God.  To  that  prom- 
ise I  point  you  and  pray  that  the  balm  of  the  Great 
Consoler  will  heal  your  wound. 

Cordially  and  sympathizingly  yours, 

Kemp  p.  Battle. 


DR.    THOMAS    HUME,    PROFESSOR    OP    ENGLISH,    TO 
MR.  JAMES  ELLER. 

July  27,  1896. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  feel  very  keenly  the  Christian 
sympathy  I  cannot  adequately  express.  My  heart  goes 
out  to  you  and  your  wife  in  this  almost  sudden  afflic- 
tion of  yours.  He  who  has  sent  it  upon  His  children 
knows  best  how  to  heal  its  hurt.  May  He  draw  very 
nigh  in  love,  and  comfort  and  whisper  in  your  secret 
souls:  "Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God."  "My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  you ;"  "I  will  not  leave  you  com- 
fortless; I  will  come  to  you."     These  are  His  own 


64  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

gracious  words,  and  I  could  never  do  so  well  in  trying 
to  lay  balm  on  your  bruised  hearts  as  in  reminding  you 
of  His  assurances  and  promises.  I  am  sure  you  know 
the  blessed  way  to  Him,  the  way  of  prayer  and  trust 
and  personal  communion.  God  bless  and  give  you  His 
own  consolation  as  you  wait  on  Him.  I  should  have 
sent  this  letter  before,  but  I  have  been  away  from  home 
and  did  not  know  that  your  son  was  sick. 

I  have  written  a  sketch  for  the  obituary  column  of 
the  Biblical  Recorder  which  imperfectly  indicates  my 
afifectionate  regard  for  your  dear  son.  It  is  an  inade- 
quate suggestion  of  the  deep  and  tender  sympathy  his 
friends,  teachers  and  students,  all  of  them — feel  for 
you.  He  was  a  boy  to  be  proud  of,  with  a  power  and 
promise  that  may  have  a  realization  unknown  to  us 
somewhere  in  God's  own  way.  I  am,  with  great  re- 
spect. Your  brother, 

Thomas  Humk. 


JAMES   LEE   LOVE    (INSTRUCTOR  IN  MATHEMATICS 
IN  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY)   TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

July  24,  1896. 

My  Dear  EllEr  : — I  have  lately  heard  of  your  sec- 
ond sad  loss  of  a  brother,  who  had  just  graduated  with 
high  distinction  at  Chapel  Hill ;  and  I  must  break  the 
silence,  if  you  will  allow  me,  to  express  the  sincere  and 
deep  sympathy  which  I  feel  with  you  and  your  mother. 
Mrs.  Love  and  Mrs.  Spencer,  and  I  want  you  to  know 
that  we  grieve  with  you  in  the  presence  of  so  terrible  a 
calamity;  and  we  hope  that  you  may  find  some  comfort 
in  the  thought  of  their  relief  and  rest  from  the  burdens 
of  life   for  which  they  were  so  manfully  preparing. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  65 

Whatever  may  happen  to  us  who  are  left,  they  are 
safe.  T'his  comforts  me  when  I  think  of  those  I  have 
lost. 

With  cordial  regard,  I  am, 

Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

James  Le;e;  Love;. 


E.  p.  CARR  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

University  of  N.  C, 
Chapel  Hill,  July  8,  1896. 

Dear  Sir: — The  death  of  our  esteemed  classmate 
and  president  causes  the  Class  of  Ninety-Six  the  deep- 
est sorrow,  and  in  their  behalf  I  desire  to  extend  to  you 
and  his  bereaved  family  our  most  heartfelt  sympathy. 

His  untimely  death  will  be  mourned  by  them  all,  and 
his  memory  ever  cherished  by  his  fellow  collegians  and 
admiring  friends. 

The  splendid  and  excellent  record  which  he  made 
during  his  University  course  will  be  an  inspiration  to 
his  classmates  and  his  brother  students. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

E.  P.  Carr. 


JOHN  H.  COBLE  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Laurinburg,  N.  C,  July  21,  1896. 
Mr.  A.  H.  EUer: 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  letter  received  today.  The 
plan  you  mention  of  preparing  a  memjorial  volume  of 
your  brothers  I  most  heartily  commend.  It  will  be  a 
treasure  in  the  hands  of  their  many  friends,  and  will 
be  greatly  valued  by  each  and  every  one  of  them. 

5 


66  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

.  .  .  Every  friend  of  Jno.  C.  Eller  will  own  it  and 
prize  it,  and  his  friends  are  numbered  by  hundreds. 

I  'have  talked  with  many  of  my  friends  who  never 
knew  your  brother :  they  were  all  deeply  interested  in 
the  story  of  his  tragic  career.  The  story  of  the  two 
Eller  boys  has  been  told  in  many  a  home.  The  fellow 
students  of  your  brothers  will  be  greatly  indebted  to 
you  if  you  put  into  execution  your  proposed  project. 

The  sensation  that  I  experienced  on  hearing  of  your 
brother's  death  is  simply  indescribable — awful.  My 
whole  mental  activity  has  been  upset  by  the  sad  news, 
for  every  thought  I  have  connected  with  my  alma 
mater,  is  linked  with  my  thoughts  of  him.  Now  he  is 
no  more,  my  thoughts  seem  empty  and  vague. 

He  was  a  leader — a  leader  in  his  class — in  politics — 
in  everything.  He  was  the  most  perfect  specimen  of 
young  manhood  that  I  have  ever  known — physical, 
mental,  and  spiritual.  He  was  a  moral  boy,  a  perfect 
gentleman. 

His  brother  I  did  not  know.  But  one  who  knew 
him — his  fellow  student,  Maxey  L.  John — remarked  to 
me  \v'hen  I  was  telling  him  of  your  youngest  brother, 
"He  could  have  been  in  no  way  superior  to  his  brother, 
Franklin  Plato  Eller." 

John  C.  Eller  was  a  Christian,  filled  with  the  true 
Christian  spirit.  "Do  unto  others  as  you  would  be 
done  by"  was  the  rule  that  governed  his  life. 

I  talked  with  him  a  great  deal,  and  this  spring  espe- 
cially his  thoughts  were  miore  serious  than  usual.  On 
the  last  night  in  April  I  went  with  him  into  Battle  Park 
to  hear  him  recite  his  speech.  On  our  return  we  stopped 
on  the  seat  between  the  trees  south  of  the  New  East 
Building  and  east  of  the  Library — if  you  remember  the 
place — and   there    we   talked    for   a   long   time.     He 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  67 

seemed  more  serious  and  earnest  than  ever,  and  told 
me  that  he  had  been  led  to  see  things  in  a  new  light  by 
the  work  spent  in  the  preparation  of  his  speech.  It 
was,  you  know,  a  moral  subject.  He  was  determined, 
he  said,  to  lead  in  the  future  a  better  life. 

I  extend  my  heartfelt  sympathy  to  yourself  and  your 
family. 

With  best  wishes,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

John  H.  Coble;. 


A.  F.  WILLIAMS,  JR.,  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Kenansvillu,  N.  C,  July  11,  1896. 

De;ar  Mr.  EllER  : — Words  can't  express  the  genuine 
pain  that  yesterday's  mail  caused  me.  I  received  a  let- 
ter from  one  of  our  friends,  J.  O.  Carr,  last  evening, 
which  conveyed  to  me  the  sad  news  of  J.  C.  Eller's 
death.  It  was  quite  a  shock  to  me,  indeed,  to  us  all.  The 
young  people  of  the  town,  among  whom  he  had  made 
many  friends,  contemplated  a  social  gathering  for  the 
evening,  but  when  I  made  known  the  sad  news  of  my 
sincere  friend  and  congenial  roommate's  death,  no  one 
wished  amusement,  indeed,  all  were  full  of  sorrow  and 
sympathy. 

For  the  past  three  years  I  have  been  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  John,  one  of  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
rooming  with  him,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  have 
never  had  a  more  congenial  roommate  or  a  more  sin- 
cere friend.  John  always  and  at  all  times  and  places 
manifested  the  true  principles  of  a  man,  and  the  noble 
characteristics  of  a  pure,  high-minded  gentleman.  Hav- 
ing no  brother,  I  naturally  sought  a  true  friend  in  whom 
I  could  confide  and  look  up  to  as  a  brother.    In  John  I 


68  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

found  all  the  requisites  for  the  desired  friend.  He  has 
done  favors  for  me  that  showed  friendship  that  could 
be  relied  on ;  and  you  know  that  friends  of  this  kind 
are  rarely  found.  I  anticipated  having  him  with  me 
on  the  beach  this  summer,  but  my  fond  hopes  were 
crushed.  I  have  often  thought  how  pleasant  it  would 
be  for  us  to  meet  out  in  life,  but  alas!  "man  proposes 
and  God  disposes."  I  sympathize  with  you  all  so 
much  in  this  your  great  bereavement;  and  if  it  is  not 
asking  too  much  I  would  be  glad  for  you  to  write  me 
all  about  his  sickness. 

I  received  your  card  on  Monday  last,  after  a  delay 
of  seven  days.  I  answered  at  once,  but  he  was  dead 
ere  it  reached  him.  I  would  have  written  him  long  ago 
had  I  known  he  was  sick,  and  had  I  not  been  sick  my- 
self. My  mother  wrote  Mrs.  Eller  today  in  behalf  of 
the  family.  Hoping  to  hear  from  you  soon,  allow  me 
to  remain  a  true  friend  to  the  family.     I  am. 

Yours  sincerely, 

A.  F.  Williams,  Jr. 


PAUL  TINSLEY  CHEEK  TO  MR.  AND  MRS.  ELLER. 

MUBANE,  N.  C,  July  14,  1896. 

Dear  ]Mr.  and  Mrs.  EllEr: — Ever  since  hearing 
the  distressing  tidings  of  the  death  of  your  son  I  have 
felt  that  I  wanted  to  write  you  some  expression  of  the 
regard  I  had  for  him  and  of  the  sympathy  I  feel  for 
you  in  this  great  affliction,  cognizant  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  not  the  first  of  the  kind  which  you  have  been  made 
to  bear  in  recent  years. 

The  facts  that  on  the  very  date  of  your  son's  death, 
last  year,  I  lost  a  brother,  and  during  the  same  month 
was  myself  stricken  with  typhoid  fever,  have  impressed 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  69 

me  keenly  in  the  thought  of  John  EUer's  death;  and 
yet  the  fact  that  I  knew  him  intimately  in  college  and 
saw  him  but  little  more  than  a  month  ago  in  apparently 
robust  health,  in  possession  of  his  usual  buoyant  spirits, 
more  than  an}'thing  else  makes  his  death  hard  of  reali- 
zation. 

I  entered  college  with  your  son  in  the  fall  of  1892, 
and  though  I  did  not  remain  during  the  four  years  of 
his  course,  I  came  to  know  him  well  and  intimately 
during  that  year,  and  in  my  absence  heard  of  his  each 
successive  honor  with  pleasure,  and  came  to  regard 
him,  as  did  all  those  who  knew  him,  as  a  young  man 
whose  fine  parts  and  mental  attainments  raised  him 
almost  to  the  point  of  genius.  Well  do  I  remember 
that  last  January  when,  after  an  absence  of  two  and  a 
half  years,  I  returned  to  Chapel  Hill,  his  handshake 
and  welcome  were  perhaps  the  kindliest  and  heartiest 
I  received ;  and  though  removed  by  class  from  me,  he 
a  senior  and  I  a  sophomore,  it  was  my  pleasure '  by 
reason  of  our  former  acquaintance  and  friendship, 
quite  frequently  to  meet  and  converse  on  the  subjects 
that  mutually  interested  us,  and  he  was  ever  the  kind, 
cordial,  cheerful  fellow  whom  I  had  known  as  fellow 
classmate. 

He  was  held  in  high  esteem  at  Chapel  Hill.  Almost 
tmiversally  popular,  he  enjoyed  very  nearly  every  dis- 
tinction that  could  be  bestowed  upon  a  student;  and 
one  day,  in  view  of  these  facts,  that  he  had  led  his  class, 
won  renown  as  both  an  orator  and  a  writer — possessed 
with  unusual  cleverness — I  was  constrained  to  say  to 
him  that  any  one  but  he  would  have  turned  fool.  But 
he  was  singularly  modest.  If  he  had  conceit,  I  could 
never  see  it.  His  manners  were  always  cordial;  his 
spirits  always,  when  I  saw  him,  buoyant.    I  never  saw  a 


70  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

cloud  on  his  face,  and  his  hearty  laugh  I  well  remem- 
ber. He  and  I  during  the  closing  weeks  of  the  ses- 
sion had  quite  a  number  of  conversations,  and  one 
evening  he  called  with  two  friends  to  see  me,  and  I  am 
sure  that  his  merry  laugh,  happy  jests,  his  general  ap- 
pearance of  robust  health  betokened  nothing  of  the 
Shadow  of  Death.  I  esteemed  it  an  honor  when  he 
courteously  asked  me  to  read  his  great  speech,  "Man's 
Inhumanity  to  Man ;"  and  when  but  a  few  days  before 
Commencement,  in  busy  preparation  for  that  occasion, 
he  asked  me  to  hear  him  speak  it  in  Memorial  Hall,  I 
felt  indeed  flattered. 

It  is  hard,  I  must  say,  to  realize  that  he  is  dead. 
With  so  much  hope,  with  such  lofty  ambition,  yet  with 
such  discreet  reserve,  so  popular  with  those  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact ;  so  manly,  so  gentle,  and  unassum- 
ing— it  is  hard  indeed  to  think  that  John  Eller  is  cut 
down  in  his  mountain  home. 

If  those  who  have  known  him  only  as  college  man 
mourn  his  loss,  how  must  you,  his  parents,  who  have 
seen  his  fertile  mind  develop,  and  his  native  talents  ex- 
pand from  youth  up  to  manhood,  giving  promise  of 
such  a  glorious  life  of  usefulness  and  honor — ^how 
must  you  feel  ?  I  would  that  I  could  ofifer  some  word 
of  consolation  in  your  great  affliction.  Only  those 
whose  afflictions  have  been  of  a  similar  nature  can 
conceive  of  your  sorrow. 

With  my  heartfelt  sympathy, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Paul  Tinsle;y  Che;e;k. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  71 

H.  E.  C.  BRYANT  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

CHARI.OTTE,  N.  C,  July  31,  1896. 

Dear  Sir: — Most  assuredly  I  was  devoted  to  both 
of  your  brothers;  I  am  as  much  grieved  as  a  brother 
could  possibly  be.  I  knew  both  of  them  well.  I  was 
about  the  last  man  on  the  campus  with  Plato  before  he 
took  sick. 

I  am  truly  glad  to  know  that  you  will  prepare  such 
a  volume  on  their  lives.  Every  Chapel  Hill  boy  would 
be  glad  to  have  one — I  am  sure  that  I  would. 

I  have  two  pictures  in  groups  that  I  highly  prize  be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  John  is  among  the  group. 

Any  way  that  I  can  serve  you  in  preparing  the  book, 
I  will  gladly  do.  I  know  their  private  lives  well  and 
their  college  lives.  Truly,  a  friend, 

H.  E.  C.  Bryant. 


L.  B.  EVANS  TO  A.  H.   ELLER. 

Clarkton,  N.  C,  December  2,  1896. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  deceased  brother,  John  C. 
Eller,  who  was  a  classmate  and  friend  of  mine,  prom- 
ised me  last  June,  a  copy  of  his  Commencement  speech. 
When  I  heard  of  his  death  I  thought  I  would  not  make 
further  efforts  to  get  a  copy  of  it,  but  I  have  recently 
heard  that  you  were  going  to  have  some  printed,  and  if 
this  is  the  case  I  would  be  much  pleased  to  have  one 
copy. 

I  was  a  great  admirer  of  your  brother — he  was  the 
most  promising  of  all  my  collegemates. 

I  was  especially  interested  in  his  commencement 
oration,  and  really  think  that  I  was  more  disappointed 
in  his  not  getting  the  "Willie  P."  Medal  than  he  him- 
self was. 


72  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

If  I  could  get  a  copy  of  this  speech,  I  would  appreci- 
ate it  very  much. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

L.  B.  Evans. 


JOE  E.  ALEXANDER  TO  A.   H.  ELLER. 

Winston,  N.  C,  July  8,  1896. 

My  Dear  ]\Ir.  Eller: — Will  Hendren  has  just  told 
me  the  sad  and  startling  news  of  John's  death. 

I  never  dreamed  when  I  bade  you  both  good-bye  at 
the  depot  a  few  days  ago  it  would  be  a  last  one  to  your 
brother  and  my  friend. 

His  premature  death  is  a  personal  bereavement  to 
me.  Somehow  I  never  possessed  the  happy  faculty  of 
making  many  close  friends ;  but  he  was  among  my 
closest  and  most  intimate  through  college.  I  feel  as  if 
I  had  lost  my  best  friend,  outside  of  the  family  rela- 
tion ;  and  I  believe  I  have. 

I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my  regret;  but  I  hope 
you  will  convey  my  deepest  sympathy  to  his  father  and 
mother,  who  are  unknown  to  me  except  through  him. 

I  have  written  thus  feelingly  because  I  feel  deeply. 

Sincerely, 
Joe  E.  Alexander. 


W.  T.  WOODLEY,  JR.,  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  July  9,  1896. 
Dear  Mr.  EelEr: — I  am  indeed  much  grieved  by 
having  read  in  today's  paper  the  sad  death  of  your  dear 
brother.  Be  assured  of  my  deepest  sympathy  in  these 
hours  of  sorrow  and  affliction.  I  had  heard  that  your 
brother  was  sick,  but  was  not  aware  of  his  critical 
illness. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  73 

I  never  knew  a  more  brilliant,  noble  young  man  or 
truer  friend  that  John  C.  Eller.  He  was  such  a  manly, 
open-hearted  fellow,  and  a  special  friend  of  mine  while 
at  the  University.  Only  five  weeks  ago  we  graduated 
together  and  left  Chapel  Hill  on  the  same  day  and  on 
the  same  train,  I  accompanying  him  as  far  as  Greens- 
boro ;  there  I  bade  him  farewell.  Little  did  I  think  it 
would  be  the  last  farewell. 

I  cannot  realize  that  he  is  dead.  It  seems  so  unreal, 
so  unnatural  when  I  think  of  him  as  I  last  saw  him, 
noble  and  strong ;  now  to  say  that  he  is  no  more  seems 
impossible.  Please  convey  my  deepest  sympathy  and 
regard  to  your  dear  parents,  for  I  have  known  some- 
thing of  a  dear  mother's  love  and  feeling  for  her  boy. 

I  would  appreciate  a  line  from  you  giving  particu- 
lars as  to  his  illness  and  death.     Believe  me, 

Very  sincerely, 

W.  T.  WooDLEY,  Jr. 


THOS.  A.  SHARPE  TO  A.  H.  ELLER. 

Pine;villE,  N.  C,  August  13,  1896. 

Dear  Sir  : — Some  time  ago  I  saw  a  letter  from  you 
in  regard  to  a  volume  you  contemplated  writing  on  the 
lives  of  John  and  Plato  Eller. 

As  a  great  admirer  of  both,  and  as  a  classmate  and 
friend  of  John's  I  want  to  say  that  I  believe  you  would 
have  the  support  of  all  the  students  and  young  ahimni 
of  the  University.  I  had  a  letter  from  Mr.  J.  O.  Carr, 
who  is  now  attending  lectures  at  Chapel  Hill  and  who 
thought  a  great  deal  of  John,  in  which  he  told  me  that 
he  was  going  to  see  the  boys  as  soon  as  they  returned 
and  have  a  crayon  portrait  of  your  brother  put  in  the 
Library.     I  would  advise  you  to  write  him  in  regard  to 


74  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

the  memorial  volume  you  contemplate  publishing,  as 
he  is  a  man  of  influence,  both  at  the  University  and  in 
the  State.  He  will  do  all  in  his  power  to  honor  the 
memory  of  such  noble  young  men. 

Assuring  you  that  I  am  ever  willing  to  help  you  in 
this  matter,  I  am,  Very  truly  yours, 

Thos.  A.  Sharpe. 


ALPHA  THETA   PHI   SOCIETY. 


d.C.EUerMPrest. 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  year 
1895-1896  was  called  to  order  in  the  English  Lecture 
Room  by  Wx.  Home,  President,  who  announced  as  the 
purpose  of  the  meeting,  the  annual  installation  of  offi- 
cers. L^pon  the  report  of  the  executive  committee, 
Mr.  John  C.  Eller  having  been  found  to  have  attained 
the  highest  grade  of  any  member  of  the  Senior  Class, 
was  formally  declared  President  of  the  Society,  with 
Mr.  J.  W.  Canada,  Secretary. 

Just  now  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  collegiate  year 
it  may  not  seem  out  of  place  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  students  again  to  the  general  plans  and  purposes  of 
a  society  which  promises  to  prove  a  very  potent  factor 
in  our  college  life. 

The  Society  was  founded  in  the  spring  of  1894, 
chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Herbert  C.  Tolman, 
then  Professor  of  Greek.  Being  himself  a  member  of 
the  honor  society  of  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Dr.  Tolman  rec- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  75 

ognized  the  need  of  such  an  organization  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  CaroHna,  and,  inviting  a  conference 
of  certain  members  of  the  Junior  and  Senior  Classes, 
the  result  was  the  formation  of  the  new  society  of 
Alpha  Theta  Phi. 

The  aim  of  this  society  is  purely  literary,  to  stimu- 
late and  increase  a  desire  for  sound  scholarship  by 
placing  a  reward  upon  excellence.  Hence  it  provides 
that  only  those  members  of  the  Junior  and  Senior 
Classes  who  have  attained  the  average  grade  of  "two" 
(90  per  cent.)  throughout  the  two  and  a  half  or  four 
years  of  their  college  course  shall  be  eligible  for  mem- 
bership. On  the  other  hand,  the  society  furnishes 
also  recognition  of  scholarly  attainment.  There  has 
been,  perhaps,  too  much  truth  in  the  statement  that 
scholarship  has  found  little  recognition  in  the  Univer- 
sity, and  that  literary  ability  has  heretofore  afforded 
its  owner  least  claim  for  consideration.  The  Alpha 
Theta  Phi  Society  is  intended  to  obviate  this,  and  in 
recognizing  ability  stimulate  it  to  increased  exertions. 
As  an  honor  society.  Alpha  Theta  Phi  thus  occupies  a 
place  in  our  college  life  which  nothing  else  approaches. 
Nor  does  it  encroach  upon  the  grounds  of  the  various 
other  societies  in  existence  here.  There  are  no  secrets 
of  any  kind  whatever,  and  scholarship  is  the  sole  test 
of  admission.  The  ultimate  aim  is  to  secure  a  chapter 
of  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  consequently  it  endeavors  to 
conform  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  standards  of  the 
latter. 

The  success  of  the  Society  has  thus  far  been  most 
encouraging.  Besides  serving  to  promote  the  general 
standard  of  scholarship  in  the  University,  it  has  num- 
bered among  its  members  many  of  the  best  men  of  the 
classes   graduating   since   its    foundation,   as   well   as 


76  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

many  of  the  Faculty.  As  an  evidence  of  this  success 
may  be  mentioned  the  fact  that  already  applications 
have  been  received  from  two  of  our  Southern  universi- 
ties for  permission  to  establish  sub-chapters,  one  of 
these,  that  of  Vanderbilt  University,  being  granted  with 
gratifying  results. — From  The  Tar  Heel,  November 
2,  1895. 


A  TRIBUTE  BY  EICHARD  G.  ALLSDROOK,  LAWYER, 

NOW  OF  THE  FIRM  OF  KITCHIN  &  ALLSBROOK, 

TARBORO,  N.  C. 

It  is  with  mingled  feelings  of  pain  and  pleasure  that 
I  am  allowed  the  privilege  of  dedicating  a  few  brief 
words  to  the  memory  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  for 
the  short  interval  of  four  college  years. 

The  undertaking  is  somewhat  painful,  because  it  is 
always  grievous  to  meditate  and  reflect  upon  the  sting 
that  death  brings  and  the  passage  hence  "beyond  this 
vale  of  tears"  of  those  whom  we  know  to  be  true  and 
trusted. 

And  the  effort  is  not  without  its  pleasure,  because  it 
is  always  pleasant  to  recount  and  cherish  the  virtues 
and  heroic  qualities  of  mortal  men  even  while  they  are 
no  more. 

My  personal  knowledge  of  the  late  John  Carlton 
Eller  dates  almost  from  the  day  of  our  matriculation 
at  the  State  University  in  September,  1892.  I  imme- 
diately upon  acquaintance  began  the  knitting  of  the 
golden  chord  of  friendship  between  us  that  was  to 
grow  stronger  and  link  us  closer  together  as  year  fol- 
lowed year.  My  first  impression  was  the  true  and 
lasting  one.  The  very  texture  and  fiber  of  his  fea- 
tures,   his    uniform    courtly   grace    and    bearing,    his 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  77 

warm,  sunshiny  spirit,  his  brilhant  intellect — all  these 
high-born  qualities — bespoke  the  whole  temper  and 
character  of  the  man.  Endowed  by  nature  with  such 
gifts  of  head  and  heart  it  was  no  surprise  that  he  soon 
became  a  favorite  with  all  and  was  quick  to  find  his 
proper  position  as  leader  of  his  fellows.  And  right 
well  and  manfully,  by  force  of  will  and  genius,  did 
he  lead  them  in  the  class  room,  in  the  society  hall, 
and  in  all  the  miniature  worlds  of  college  life.  This 
native-born  pre-eminence  was  marked  in  his  first  year 
by  the  signal  fact  that  he  was  chosen  president  of  his 
class — a  high  honor  that  came  unsolicited  and  was  his 
to  hold  until  graduation  day.  And  this,  suffice  it  to 
say,  was  the  sounding  of  the  first  note  in  the  ascending 
scale  of  college  honors  whose  full  length  he  ran. 

Fired  by  the  buoyancy  and  exuberance  of  his  own 
spirits,  his  first  year's  work  was  but  a  splendid  begin- 
ning of  a  yet  more  splendid  end — a  bright  index  to  a 
still  brighter  future.  He  had  long  since  commanded 
my  admiration  and  his  magnetic  personality  won  him 
all  hearts  among  the  upper  as  well  as  lower  classmen. 
Though  our  interests  were  largely  similar,  it  was  not 
my  good  fortune  to  be  associated  with  him  in  his  liter- 
ary society  and  its  work,  of  which  he  was  so  jealous, 
and  to  which  he  was  so  faithful  and  devoted ;  but  there, 
too,  he  was  an  acknowledged  leader,  and  in  the  van  of 
every  movement  that  made  for  its  good. 

Among  every  class  of  college  men  there  are  those 
who  are  regarded  by  faculty  and  students  alike  as 
strong,  steadfast,  pivotal  men — around  whom  all  others 
balance,  so  to  speak — and  who  by  their  conservatism 
and  wise  and  discreet  judgment  upon  the  various  and 
shifting  questions  that  vex  the  mind  of  a  student  body, 
can  fashion  college  sentiment  and  bring  things  to  pass. 


78  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

My  late  associate  and  comrade  was  pre-eminently  of 
that  number,  and  full  many  a  time  in  the  still  quiet 
hours  of  the  night  taking  counsel  around  his  hearth- 
stone about  the  loss  of  some  imaginary  right — he  it 
was  who  would  steer  us  out  of  these  whirlpools  of 
misunderstood  relations  into  more  placid  waters  of 
peace  and  order.  He  was  a  natural  born  organizer  and 
leader  of  men.  Undismayed  and  unassuming,  he  met 
every  obstacle  squarely,  and  overcame  it;  answered 
every  call  of  duty,  and  bravely  did  it.  In  like  spirit  he 
w^ent  on  the  smooth  and  even  tenor  of  his  way  in  dili- 
gent pursuit  of  his  studies,  wearing  his  honors  right 
worthily  and  mastering  all  his  tasks  with  an  intelli- 
gence as  keen  and  clear  as  the  fresh  mountain  air  that 
fed  his  young  life  and  quickened  his  youthful  energies. 
On  all  questions  of  great  importance  that  came  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  student  body,  his  opinion  was 
invariably  sought,  and  at  no  time  did  he  fail  to  uplift 
his  voice  in  behalf  of  truth,  right,  and  justice  as  he  saw 
and  believed  them.  He  was  universally  popular — a 
friend  of  every  one — friendly  to  all,  and  those  who 
knew  him  best  admired  him  most. 

His  every  act  emitted  gentle  rays  of  his  intensely 
warm  human  heart  and  through  every  utterance 
beamed  forth  soft  and  mellow  lights  of  love — ideal 
reflections  of  his  high  and  noble  breeding.  Complete 
self-control  and  matchless  ease  and  power  of  expres- 
sion were  strong  and  striking  characteristics  of  him ; 
and  he  was  always  himself,  whether  in  public  discus- 
sion, in  heated  debate,  or  pursuing  some  more  tedious 
and  intricate  course  of  syllogistic  reasoning.  Friends 
and  co-laborers  as  we  were,  our  friendship  and  intimacy 
were  never  more  genuine  and  mutual  than  in  our  grad- 
uating year  (and  readers  of  this  will  pardon  this  very 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  79 

personal  allusion),  when  we  measured  arms  and  tilted 
zealously  for  the  same  coveted  prize.  There  were 
other  contestants  for  this  token  of  excellence,  but  the 
real  contest  was  thought  to  be  by  those  who  knew,  be- 
tween him  and  myself.  And  amid  all  the  enthusiasm 
and  hopefulness  and  youthful  eagerness  consequent 
upon  such  rivalry  I  am  happy  to  relate  that  neither  of 
us  ever  for  once  doubted  the  other's  sincere  efforts  and 
honest  purpose.  It  was  then  that  I  was  drawn  very 
close  to  his  warm  heart,  and  my  long  friendship  grew 
into  great  admiration  and  esteem.  I  can  never  forget 
the  theme  of  his  beautiful  oration  on  that  eventful 
day:  "Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man."  How  it  bristled 
with  bright  ideas.  How  it  sparkled  with  burning  elo- 
quence !  That  production — so  typical  of  the  man  and 
his  nature — in  a  masterful  way  added  another  jewel  to 
his  already  brilHant  diadem  and  in  sad,  sorrowful  truth 
was  the  crowning  effort  of  his  life.  For  very  soon 
thereafter,  while  seeking  rest  from  exhausting  labors 
in  the  quiet  solitude  of  his  paternal  home,  he  fell  a 
victim  to  fever;  God  saw  fit  to  take  him  and  he  was 
not.  Thus,  in  the  blush  and  vigor  of  hopeful,  am- 
bitious young  manhood  did  his  kindly  light  go  out  and 
naught  of  mortal  form  remains  of  him  save  the  picture 
face  that  lies  before  me  and  inspires  me  as  I  write. 

He  is  not  dead — forever  dead — but  only  sleeping — 
peacefully  sleeping  in  his  mountain  resting  place,  while 
his  soul,  as  pure  as  Alpine  snows,  as  gentle  as  Aegean 
zephyrs  or  the  soft  breezes  that  play  about  his  mound, 
hath  taken  its  flight  hence  beyond  the  dark  river  into 
the  land  of  the  Hereafter,  there  to  rest  sweetly  and  be 
at  perennial  ease  in  a  new  life  among  the  saints. 

Richard  G.  Allsbrook. 

Scotland  Neck,  N.  C,  July  5,  1897. 


80  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

MK.  J.  O.  CARR  TO  J.  B.  HUBBELL. 

Wilmington,  N.  C,  September  8,  1909. 
Mr.  J.  B.  Huhbell,  Red  House,  Va. 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  am  very  much  pleased  to  note  that 
you  and  your  uncle,  Mr.  A.  H.  Eller,  are  preparing  a 
volume  in  memory  of  Plato  and  John  C.  Eller,  both  of 
whom  were  students  at  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina. 

I  knew  Plato  Eller  very  slightly,  as  he  was  in  the 
Junior  Class  when  I  entered  and  died  during  the  first 
year  of  my  stay  at  the  L^niversity;  but  no  man  in  the 
University  stood  higher  than  he. 

As  to  John  C.  Eller,  I  was  intimately  associated  with 
him  for  four  years,  and  there  was  no  student  at  the 
University  whom  I  loved  more,  and  who  was  more 
universally  loved  and  esteemed  by  the  student  body 
than  he.  He  was  a  leader  in  class  work,  in  athletics, 
in  the  literary  societies,  in  college  politics,  and  in  every 
department  of  college  life.  Pie  had  strong  convictions 
on  all  questions  affecting  the  University  and  never  con- 
cealed those  convictions.  He  entered  into  many  con- 
tests and  rivalries  among  students,  but  his  differences 
with  fellow  students  were  differences  of  views,  and  he 
fought  his  battles  open-handed  and  above  board ;  and 
consequently  his  bitterest  enemies  were  his  strongest 
friends.  When  he  graduated  and  left  the  University, 
he  carried  with  him  as  bright  prospects  for  a  brilliant 
future  as  any  young  man  who  ever  left  its  doors,  and 
the  news  which  came  only  a  short  while  after  his  de- 
parture, that  he  had  died  with  typhoid  fever,  was  a 
stunning  blow  to  his  friends  at  Chapel  Hill.  In  his 
death,  both  the  University  and  the  State  sustained  a 
great  loss,  as  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  he  could 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  81 

have  soon  become  one  of  the  leading  piibHc  men  in 
North  CaroHna. 

I  hope  you  will  let  nothing  interfere  with  your  pur- 
pose to  complete  this  work,  because  the  records  of  Plato 
and  John  C.  Eller  at  the  University  ought  to  be  pre- 
served. Yours  sincerely, 

J.  O.  Carr. 


LETTER    FROM   MR.    H.    G.    CHATHAM   TO    MR.    A.    H. 

ELLER. 

Elkin,  N.  C,  July  14,  1896. 
Mr.  A.  H.  Eller,  Winston,  N.  C: 

Dear  ElIvE^r  : — Allow  me  to  express  the  fervent  sym- 
pathy I  feel  for  you  in  your  recent  great  bereavement. 
It  was  not  my  privilege  to  know  your  brother  person- 
ally, but  the  verdict  which  I  have  heard  many  of  his 
friends  render  was  that  he  was  one  of  the  brightest 
young  men  in  the  State.  I  wish  I  could  by  some  word 
or  deed  make  the  burden  of  your  sorrow  lighter,  but 
that  is  scarcely  within  the  pale  of  human  possibility, 
and  my  family  join  me  in  kind  regards  and  good 
wishes.  H.  G.  Chatham. 


LETTER  FROM  PROF.  J.  W.  CANADA  TO  MR.  A.  H. 

ELLER. 

SuMMERFiELD,  N.  C,  July  21,  1896. 
A.  H.  Eller,  Esq.,  Winston,  N.  C: 

My  Dear  Sir  : — I  ^hall  be  glad  to  have  a  memorial 
volume  of  my  devoted  college  friend,  your  brother,  John 
C.  Your  other  brother  I  did  not  know,  having  entered 
college  later.  I  am  sure  that  a  number  of  his  class- 
mates and  collegemates  would  want  such  a  volume  as  a 


82  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

memorial  of  their  associate,  one  whom  every  one  knew 
only  to  esteem  and  love.  I  speak  of  John  C.  Your 
other  brother  had  just  as  many  warm  friends  at  the 
University  and  at  home,  I  know. 

By  such  a  volume  we  shall  cherish  the  memory,  and 
emulate  the  examples  of  these  noble  young  men  who 
fell  just  as  they  were  ready  for  the  battles  of  Hfe,  and 
thus  to  some  extent  shall  they,  though  they  have  passed 
beyond,  continue  their  labor  in  and  through  us. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  do  anything  in  my  power  for  the 
memory  of  my  dear  friend,  John  C.  Eller. 

Yours, 
J.  W.  Canada. 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  GEO.  STEPHENS,  OF  CHARLOTTE, 
N.  C,  TO  MR.  A.  H.  ELLER. 

AsBURY  Park,  N.  J.,  July  11,  1896. 

My  Dear  Mr.  EllEr: — The  sad  news  of  your 
brother's  death  has  just  reached  me  and  I  hasten  to 
write  and  extend  my  most  sincere  and  heartfelt  sym- 
pathy in  this  your  sad  bereavement.  You  will  hardly 
remember  me,  I  guess,  but  I  was  so  very  fond  of  John 
that  I'm  not  going  to  let  any  conventionality  prevent 
my  writing.  Letters,  I  know,  are  always  inadequate 
at  such  times,  and  I  feel  that  no  words  can  express  my 
true  feelings  now. 

Your  brother  and  I  were  classmates  and  he  never 
had  a  more  ardent  admirer  than  I.  Circumstances 
threw  us  together  a  great  deal,  and  always,  every- 
where he  was  the  straightforward,  manly  fellow  that 
made  him  so  deservedly  popular. 

It  seems  a  strange  dispensation  of  Providence  for 
one  so  promising,  just  in  the  bloom  of  young  manhood, 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  83 

to  be  taken  away,  but  it  is  best,  I  suppose,  to  bow  in 
humble  submission  to  the  One  that  "doeth  all  things 
well."  Again  offering  my  most  cordial  sympathy  and 
assuring  you  of  my  own  deep  and  heartfelt  sadness,  I 
am.  Most  sincerely, 

Geo.  Ste;phe;ns. 


LETTER   FROM  IVIRS.   McBEE  TO   MR.   JAMES   ELLER. 

Green  Hill,  July  12. 

My  Dear  Mr.  EllEr: — Through  the  Charlotte  Ob- 
server I  have  learned  with  profound  sorrow  of  the 
sudden  bereavement,  which  many  share  with  you,  but 
which  to  you  and  your  family  is  supreme. 

Although  I  am  a  comparative  stranger,  your  exceed- 
ing kindness  two  years  ago,  at  the  mere  mention  of 
my  father-in-law's  narrte,  justifies  me  in  assuring  you 
of  my  heartfelt  sympathy,  and  I  trust  you  will  not  con- 
sider such  expression  an  intrusion  upon  the  sacredness 
of  your  affliction. 

Although  I  met  your  son  only  the  once,  the  few 
hours,  which  at  your  bidding,  he  so  obediently  and 
cheerfully  gave  me,  impressed  indelibly  upon  my  mind 
the  simplicity  and  dignity  of  his  character.  I  have 
heard  through  friends  of  his  noble  record  at  the  Uni- 
versity. 

There  have  been  men,  who,  in  a  single  flash  of 
genius,  evidenced  that  they  were  destined  to  reign  as 
kings  forever — yet  they  were  cut  down  ere  the  world 
recognized  their  mission  or  heeded  their  message.  The 
virtue,  purity,  honesty,  courage,  patience,  faith  and 
love  possess  the  very  essence  of  eternal  law.  The  les- 
son is  made  clear  by  the  light  which  life  and  immortal- 
ity have  brought.     Life  here  seems  and  ought  to  seem 


84  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

incomplete,  for  it  is  incomplete — it  is  but  the  threshold 
of  the  one  eternal  life.  It  is  not  designed  of  God  to 
exhaust  or  fully  employ  His  multitudinous  gifts  to 
man — it  is  not  the  ultimatum  of  heaven — bequeathed 
powers ;  if  it  shall  train  and  exercise  and  render  vigor- 
ous the  spiritual  faculties,  so  that,  when  adequate 
sphere  and  scope  have  been  vouchsafed,  these  shall  ac- 
complish that  whereunto  they  were  sent,  then  life  here 
is  not  in  vain.  Labour  and  life  in  the  Lord  are  never 
in  vain ! 

Our  Blessed  Lord  ended  His  marvellous  career  on 
earth  while  He  was  yet  a  young  man.  He  chose  as  the 
companions  of  His  ministry  young  men ;  and  the  young 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  said  in  his  old  age,  "I  write 
unto  you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong." 

It  is  ours  to  believe  that  the  King  of  Love  has  taken 
your  son  in  the  vigor  and  beauty  of  youth  closer  to 
Himself — and  while  we  may  not  repress  the  tears,  let 
us  rejoice  for  the  victor's  sake. 

Mrs.  Gwyn  and  family  beg  to  extend  to  you  sin- 
cere sympathy. 

Believe  me  very  humbly  and  faithfully. 

Yours, 

Vardry  McBee. 

Ronda,  North  Carolina. 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTEE  WHITTEN  BY  EUGENE  L. 

HARRIS,   REGISTRAR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY,   TO 

MR.  A.  H.  ELLER,  AUGUST  15,  1896. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Bller,  Winston,  N.  C: 

DijAR  Mr.  EllEr  : — Let  me  tell  you  how  we  mourn 
with  you  over  the  early  departure  of  your  brother,  who 
won  friends  for  himself  wherever  he  went.     It  seems 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  85 

that  Death  indeed  loves  a  shining  mark.  It  is  sad  to 
think  of,  that  one  so  full  of  hope  for  the  future  in 
broadening  for  usefulness — in  expanding  for  life — 
should  so  suddenly  be  snatched  away  from  time  to 
eternity.  I  can  truly  sympathize  with  you,  as  the 
agony  is  yet  fresh  in  my  heart  when  the  yellow  tele- 
gram came  saying  that  my  lovely  brother  (Hunter) 
had  been  drow^ned  in  Little  River.  But  let  us  never 
murmur  against  a  Father  who  knows  best  and  veils 
much  from  his  children's  earthly  view.  Let  us  rather 
remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  "sor- 
row of  His  disciples  would  be  turned  into  joy"  and  let 
us  not  mourn  as  those  who  have  no  hope — but  await 
the  resurrection  morn. 


A  LETTER  FROM  RICHARD  COBB,  RECORDER  OF 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY. 

Barnstable,  Mass.,  July  27,  1896. 

Dear  Sir  : — The  letter  in  which  you  tell  me  of  your 
brother's  death  has  been  forwarded  to  me  here.  You 
will,  I  trust,  believe  that  the  sympathy  I  would  express 
for  you  if  I  could,  is  real.  That  we  appreciate  in  some 
small  part  your  brother's  worth  was  shown  by  our 
giving  to  him  an  award  of  aid  which,  because  of  its 
limited  amount,  we  are  forced  to  refuse  to  many  thor- 
oughly deserving  applicants.  It  follows  that  we  real- 
ize that  in  your  brother's  death  we  have  lost  a  student 
whom  we  would  have  been  proud  to  number  among 
our  graduates. 

Again  expressing  my  sympathy  for  you  in  your  sor- 
row, I  am  Yours  sincerely, 

Richard  Cobb. 


86  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  WRITTEN  BY   MR.   GEO. 

W.    CONNOR,    OF   WILSON,    N.   C,   TO    MR.    J.   B. 

HUBBELL,  SEPTEMBER  27,  1909. 

Mr.  J.  B.  Hubbell,  Red  House,  Va.: 

Dear  Sir: — Your  favor  of  the  9th  inst.,  advising 
that  you  and  your  uncle  are  preparing  a  volume  in 
memory  of  Franklin  Plato  and  John  Carlton  Eller 
came  duly  to  hand,  but  I  have  been  absent  from  home 
so  much  this  month  that  I  have  been  unable  to  reply  to 
the  same. 

I  was  at  the  University  with  Plato  Eller,  and  it  was 
my  privilege  to  enjoy  a  rather  intimate  friendship  with 
him.  His  death  affected  me  greatly  and  I  often  think 
of  his  fine  character  and  splendid  ability.  He  won  the 
affection  and  enjoyed  the  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him. 
His  University  friends  looked  forward  confidently  to  a 
brilliant  career  for  him.  He  had  the  character  and 
ability  which  would  have  enabled  him  to  render  great 
service  to  the  State  if  he  had  lived. 


EXTRACT     FROM     A     LETTER     WRITTEN     BY     MISS 

REBECCA  SCHENCK,  OF  GREENSBORO,  N.  C,  TO 

MR.  A.  H.  ELLER,  JULY  12,  1896. 

My  Dear  Mr.  EllEr:— I  learn  for  the  first  time 
today  of  your  sorrow  and  my  heart  goes  out  in  sympa- 
thy to  you  in  this  great  bereavement.  May  the  God 
of  all  comfort  be  with  you  and  enable  you  to  feel  that 
He  does  all  things  well. 

I  never  knew  your  brother  personally,  but  Michael 
has  told  me  often  of  his  brightness,  his  ambition,  his 
unswerving  fidelity  to  duty  and  of  his  kindness  to  him, 
a  younger  boy. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  87 

I  have  never  seen  INWchael  more  genuinely  grieved 
than  over  the  news  of  his  death,  and  he  asks  me  to  join 
in  a  heart  full  of  sympathy  for  you  and  your  parents. 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  WRITTEN  BY  PROF.  JXO. 

J.   BLAIR,   SUPT.   CITY   SCHOOLS  OF   ^^LMING- 

TON,  TO  MR.  A.  H.  ELLER,  JULY  20,  1896. 

Dear  EivLER  : — I  assure  you  that  you  have  my  deep- 
est sympathy  in  your  recent  affliction.  The  news  of 
your  brother's  death  caused  the  most  profound  regret 
at  Chapel  Hill,  where  he  was  so  well  known  and  loved. 

Very  truly, 

Jno.  J.  Blair. 


LETTER  FROM  PROF.   H.   H.   HORNE,   OF   NEW  YORK 
UNIVERSITY,  TO  MR.  J.  B.  HUBBELL. 

Leonia,  N.  ].,  September  27,  1909. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Hubbkll  : — When  I  entered  the  Uni- 
versity as  a  Freshman  in  1891,  the  name  of  Plato  Eller 
was  a  part  of  the  heritage  of  the  institution,  about 
which  the  halo  of  fame  had  gathered. 

John  Eller  was  my  collegemate,  my  pupil,  my  friend. 
As  a  collegemate  he  was  admired  by  all  for  his  bril- 
liancy in  scholarship  and  in  oratory ;  as  a  pupil  he  was 
among  my  few  best ;  as  a  friend,  we  had  peculiar  bonds 
of  affinity,  both  in  religion  and  in  college  politics.  As 
no  doubt  known  to  you,  and  like  most  earnest-minded 
men,  Eller  passed  through  an  intellectual  storm  and 
stress  period  in  college.  He  had  his  Wander- jahr. 
We  talked  about  it  at  the  time  and  he  ended  this  pe- 
riod, as  I  think,  with  views  of  life  admixed  with  a 
"sweet  reasonableness." 


88  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

I  am  glad  you  and  your  uncle  are  perpetuating  in 
permanent  form  the  great  achievements  of  these  two 
lamented  sons  of  our  University.  Trusting  your  suc- 
cess will  be  comparable  to  what  theirs  would  have 
been,  I  remain,  Very  cordially  yours, 

H.  H.  Horne:. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  89 

introduction  to  tbe  Writings  anb  Speeches  of 

T^lato  TElUr 

The  writings  and  speeches  that  follow  are  included 
for  two  reasons :  first,  because  they  were  written  by 
those  whom  this  volume  is  intended  to  commemorate, 
and  hence  should  interest  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
story  of  their  lives ;  and,  second,  because  we  believe 
that,  apart  from  all  considerations  of  this  nature,  they 
are  well  worthy  of  preservation  because  of  their  beauty 
of  language  and  nobility  of  thought. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  state  that  all  of  them 
were  written  for  special  occasions,  which  have  little 
significance  for  some  of  those  who  will  read  this  volume. 
Almost  none  of  them  were  written  with  any  idea  that 
they  would  ever  be  preserved  at  all,  much  less  that 
they  would  be  printed.  In  many  cases  we  have  had  to 
print  from  incomplete  first  drafts  because  the  final 
copy  was  lost  or  unobtainable.  But,  wdien  measured 
by  the  proper  standards,  we  do  not  doubt  that  they  will 
serve  abundantly  to  substantiate  every  statement  and 
implication  as  to  their  merit  found  in  other  parts  of 
this  volume,  and  will  interest  many  who  never  knew 
those  vVho  wrote  them. 

Plato  EUer  disliked  writing  almost  to  the  same  de- 
gree that  he  loved  to  speak.  Standing  before  a  body 
of  men  gathered  to  discuss  a  question  of  importance, 
he  felt  the  thrill  of  the  moment  calling  out  his  noblest 
and  deepest  thoughts  and  arraying  them  for  him,  as  it 
were,  in  language  of  corresponding  nobility  and  im- 
pressiveness ;  but  when  a  pen  was  placed  in  his  hand, 
unless  in  his  mind's  eye  he  saw  his  audience  before 


90  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

him,  his  thoughts  did  not  flow  readily  into  words,  and 
he  lost  patience  with  trying  to  find  by  a  process  of 
cold  selection  the  words  and  phrases  that  in  speaking 
came  of  their  own  accord.  It  is  almost  certain  that 
neither  of  the  three  debates  here  printed  were  delivered 
in  the  form  in  which  they  are  found  here.  The  second 
is  written  in  pencil  with  many  scarcely  intelligible  ad- 
ditions and  erasures;  it  is  doubtful  if  even  the  argu- 
ment is  in  its  final  form. 

"Institutions  the  Result  of  Growth"  was  written  for 
the  inter-society  oratorical  contest  at  the  Commence- 
ment of  1892.  As  stated  in  the  Introduction,  the 
choice  of  the  subject  was  the  result  of  an  investigation 
undertaken  for  Prof.  H.  H.  Williams,  which  was  to 
lead  to  a  thesis  (never  completed)  on  "The  Law  of 
Growth."  The  central  thought  of  the  oration  is  the 
application  of  the  theory  of  evolution  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  history.  Less  promising  material  out  of  which 
to  construct  a  commencement  oration  could  hardly  be 
imagined.  The  speaker,  however,  as  he  says  in  a  let- 
ter to  his  brother,  could  not  content  himself  with 
writing  mere  "curls;"  he  loved  debating  better  than 
the  more  flowery  forms  of  public  speaking;  and  with 
him  the  choice  of  a  serious  subject  was  inevitable. 
The  far-reaching  significance  of  the  thought  about 
which  his  oration  is  constructed  impressed  his  mind 
and  imagination  so  vividly  that  he  filled  it  with  human 
interest  and  emotion.  One  can  hardly  read  it  today 
without  feeling  the  earnestness  and  fire  of  the  speak- 
er's voice  and  the  dignity  and  power  of  his  gestures. 

The  article  on  "Our  Retiring  President"  was  pub- 
lished on  the  first  page  of  the  University  Magazine, 
No.  6,  1891. 

The  article  on  "The  Dialectic  Society"  was  written 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  91 

for  the  Hellenian  (University  annual)  of  1892.  Plato 
was  at  that  time  president  of  the  Society.  The  article 
is  interesting  and  significant  for  its  clear  and  convinc- 
ing statement  of  the  relation  of  the  Society's  work  to 
that  of  the  University  and  the  State.  It  shows  admir- 
ably also  the  writer's  affection  and  devotion  to  the 
Society,  for  which  he  fought  in  many  a  hard  battle 
throughout  his  entire  college  career  and  for  which,  it 
seems  to  us,  he  gave  his  life  while  endeavoring  to  up- 
hold its  ancient  fame. 

The  debate  opposing  the  abolition  of  the  Electoral 
College  is  undated;  and  I  have  found  no  means  of 
learning  when  it  was  written  or  delivered. 

The  debate  on  the  question  of  Home  Rule  for  the 
Irish  was  delivered  in  the  spring  of  1891,  while  the 
speaker  was  a  Sophomore.  With  this  debate  he  won 
the  Best  Debater's  Medal  in  the  Dialectic  Society. 

The  debate  on  the  question  of  Turkish  Supremacy 
was  spoken  in  the  inter-society  debate  of  November 
14,  1891.     The  debaters  were: 

Affirmative  (Phi). — A.  H.  Koonce,  S.  F.  Austin. 

Negative  (Di).— T.  B.  Lee,  F.  P.  Eller. 

The  University  Magazine  says :  "The  speeches  were 
all  excellent  and  the  arguments  well  presented,  but  the 
committee  decided  in  favor  of  the  Negative." 

A  Brief  Review  of  Scholasticism  was  probably  a 
class  exercise ;  but  its  excellence,  it  is  believed,  justifies 
its  preservation. 


92  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

INSTITUTIONS  THE  RESULT  OF  GROWTH 

The  world  presents  bewildering  complexity  and  va- 
riety, constant  struggle  and  change,  apparently  with- 
out meaning  or  purpose.  But  beneath  that  tangled 
network  of  institutions  and  traditions,  ideas  and  cus- 
toms, which  we  call  society,  there  is  a  germinant  seed 
of  thought,  which,  expanding  in  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual, gives  to  civilization  its  aim  and  importance. 
The  labor  of  history  has  been  an  attempt  to  render  this 
germ,  at  first  abstract  and  potential,  concrete  and 
actual  in  existing  society  as  it  branches  into  its  many- 
sided  life. 

Everywhere  the  ideal  strives  to  realize  itself  in  the 
actual,  "and  everywhere  failing  in  its  aim,  it  breaks  to 
pieces  its  own  work,"  and  rushes  on  to  new  manifes- 
tations. These  in  turn  are  broken  through  and  shat- 
tered by  the  pulsations  and  struggles  of  the  living, 
developing  truth  within,  ever  striving  for  expression 
and  adaptation  to  every  different  condition  of  mankind 
in  the  world. 

Man's  institutions  are  the  external  forms  through 
which  his  inner  life  works  and  grows  in  its  ceaseless 
endeavor  to  realize  in  itself  that  freedom  of  movement 
and  symmetry  of  structure  which  shall  mark  the  full 
possession  of  its  powers. 

Along  the  boundary  line  between  the  growing  life 
and  the  rigid  form,  the  developing  nation  and  the  writ- 
ten constitution,  the  expanding  truth  and  orthodox 
creed,  there  is  a  conflict  of  opposing  forces,  giving  rise 
to  sects  and  parties,  which  rend  the  world  in  twain 
and  strew  it  with  the  broken  timbers  of  Church  and 
State.  The  crumbled  ruins  of  human  institutions  are 
the  tribute  which  the  temporary  pays  to  the  permanent, 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  93 

formal  freedom  to  substantial  freedom,  lesser  life  to 
broader  living.  Every  "Lost  Cause"  forms  not  only 
a  necessary  step  in  man's  upward  progress,  but  im- 
parts its  essential  spirit  to  the  higher  union  and  acts 
as  a  living  force  forever : 

"Oh,  kingdom  of  the  past ! 
Thy  forms  and  creeds  have  vanished; 

But, 

"Whatever  of  true  life  there  was  in  thee, 
Leaps  in  our  Age's  veins." 

All  that  was  deeply  good  or  truly  great  in  the  work- 
manship of  the  past,  though  shattered  into  inchoate 
fragments,  ever  incarnates  itself  anew  and  lives  still  in 
the  freer  life  and  broader  character  of  the  world. 

When  the  ideas  and  conditions  that  gave  life  to 
feudalism  had  yielded  to  the  gathering  forces  of  mon- 
archy, the  whole  fabric  of  Chivalry,  with  its  customs 
and  institutions,  broke  to  pieces,  and  a  nobler  edifice  of 
thought  and  government  rose  from  out  the  dismantled 
ruins. 

In  the  course  of  human  progress,  all  creeds  and  insti- 
tutions, however  temporary  or  imperfect,  have  con- 
tained a  truth  and  prepared  the  way  for  a  longer  stride 
and  broader  view.  At  a  time  when  the  Roman  Pontiff 
laid  claim  to  the  headship  of  temporary  power  and 
demanded  implicit  obedience  from  his  followers,  the 
restrictions  and  bars  to  political  privileges,  laid  upon 
Catholics,  were  both  necessary  and  just.  But  when 
those  demands  had  proven  futile  and  been  withdrawn, 
the  rights  of  man  and  the  interests  of  State  alike  called 
for  Catholic  Emancipation. 

The  outward  forms  of  society  have  been  wrought 
out   by   an   invisible   thought,    and    when    its   volatile 


94  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

essence  dissolves  to  re-form  under  a  higher  law,  a 
broader  generalization,  or  a  more  perfect  ideal,  the 
antiquated  architecture  of  its  past  life  must  fall  away 
and  a  new  train  of  institutions  follow  in  its  wake. 

The  Drama  of  Universal  History,  which  has  Ages 
for  its  acts,  Nations  for  its  scenes,  and  Races  for  its 
characters,  has  for  its  lofty  theme,  running  throughout 
its  tragic  struggles,  the  development  of  individual  and 
national  character.  Living  character,  like  the  mythical 
life-tree,  Igdrasil,  is  rooted  down  deep  in  the  dead 
kingdom  of  the  past.  But,  where  the  sap  rises  from 
its  hidden  roots  into  the  mighty  trunk  of  existing 
society,  its  institutional  branches  stir  and  move  with 
life,  and  invisible  forces  sweep  to  and  fro  in  its  sway- 
ing crown,  as  they  draw  nourishment  from  the  free  air 
of  heaven. 

The  graduated  march  of  progressive  life  is  by  ap- 
proximation, and  even  the  best  institutions  are  valu- 
able only  as  means  to  nobler  ends,  stepping-stones  to 
nobler  heights.  They  are  the  setting  of  the  diamond, 
the  Time-vesture  of  the  Eternal,  the  rude  scaffolding 
of  the  queenly  structure  of  national  character.  When 
these  vestments  of  national  life,  whether  of  sack-cloth 
or  "wrought  of  crimson  and  cloth  of  gold,"  have  served 
the  purpose  of  their  creation  and  become  weathered 
and  worn,  they  must  crumble  piecemeal  away  that  the 
fitter  garments  may  press  up  from  beneath.  When 
man  is  dissatisfied  with  his  present  condition  and  as- 
pires to  a  higher  life,  when  a  fresh  sowing  of  human 
thought  is  yellowing  to  the  harvest,  when  a  new  ring 
of  growth  has  expanded  from  within,  the  fixed  institu- 
tions without  must  yield  along  the  diverging  lines  of 
growth  to  the  warm  breath  of  reform,  or  the  shatter- 
ing  shock   of  revolution   will   lay   them  in   the   dust. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  95 

There  is  nothing  so  revolutionary,  because  there  is 
nothing  so  unnatural  and  convulsive,  as  the  attempt  to 
preserve  institutions  unchanged  v^hile  "all  the  world 
is  by  the  very  law  of  its  creation  in  eternal  progress." 
The  determination  of  the  Stuarts  to  govern  according 
to  the  obsolete  principles  of  the  Tudor s  kindled  the 
stern  virtues  of  Puritanism,  which  dashed  the  divine 
right  of  Kings  to  pieces  forever. 

In  government,  itself,  however  true  its  principles 
may  be,  there  is  no  warrant  for  its  safety  and  perma- 
nence, save  as  it  reflects  the  character,  and  images 
forth  the  thoughts  of  its  time  and  people. 

The  Roman  citizen  centering  his  trust  in  the  outward 
forms  of  government,  in  the  Consulate,  the  Tribune- 
ship,  the  Comitia  and  all  the  ancient  bulwarks  of  Ro- 
man Law,  and  forgetful  of  the  Roman  spirit  that  gave 
them  life  and  meaning,  saw  the  reins  of  government 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  Augustus  without  the 
violation  of  written  law  or  the  overthrow  of  formal 
freedom.  The  obscure  minority  becomes  the  ruling 
majority,  heresy  grows  into  orthodoxy,  the  Constitu- 
tion yields  to  its  interpretation,  throughout  society 
under-currents  swerve  its  life-stream  from  out  the 
forms  of  today  into  the  forms  of  tomorrow. 

No  institution  can  be  mathematically  constructed, 
fitly  jointed  and  bolted  together,  so  as  to  bid  defiance 
to  decay  and  change.  But  they  must  be  historically 
evolved  from  the  people's  life  and  periodically  adjusted 
to  the  wants  and  necessities  of  the  times,  so  that,  grow- 
ing with  the  transmitted  vitalities  of  the  past,  they 
shall  be  elastic  with  the  living  blood  of  the  present. 

In  no  country  can  the  nervous  column  of  popular 
tradition  be  sundered  with  impunity;  but  all  reform 
and  change  of  government  must  move  along  the  lines 


96  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

of  national  growth.  Napoleon  could  no  more  force 
the  free  ideas  of  the  Revolution  vipon  Spain,  than 
Philip  II  could  force  those  of  the  Inquisition  upon 
Holland.  There  is  no  patent  for  making  institutions 
to  order. 

The  "Grand  Model,"  though  conceived  by  the  state- 
craft of  Locke  and  Shaftesbury,  and  designed  for  the 
moulding  of  a  perfect  State,  when  applied  to  Carolina, 
failed  in  every  part.  The  late  attempt  of  the  French 
to  blot  out  their  nation's  past,  reverse  its  character, 
and  start  anew  upon  the  basis  of  theory,  ended  amid 
scenes  of  blood  and  chaotic  confusion.  All  manufac- 
tured governments,  forged  by  momentary  enthusiasm, 
reared  high  above  the  people,  finding  no  lodgement  in 
the  nation's  character,  will  be  wrecked  by  the  reaction- 
ary wave  of  popular  indignation.  Mexico  and  the 
South  American  States,  having  adopted  constitutional 
governments  without  sufficient  preparation  in  the  race's 
past,  ride  upon  the  shocks  of  revolution  and  ask  for 
the  name  of  the  new  President.  Their  germinating 
independence  must  ramify  throughout  the  people's 
life,  and  grow  into  a  complex  organism  of  government, 
inlocking  in  its  strong  and  elastic  branches  the  love  and 
confidence  of  succeeding  generations,  before  its  free 
forms  of  government  can  become  living  realities. 

The  English  Constitution  unites  freedom  and  sta- 
bility because  it  has  been  a  growth  of  development  of 
the  Teutonic  genius  through  conservative  progress 
into  the  crowning  glory  of  English  Liberty.  No 
Magna  Charta,  Petition  of  Rights,  or  Bill  of  Rights 
ever  created  or  attempted  to  create  any  new  liberties 
for  the  English  people.  Their  forms  and  principles  of 
government,  founded  upon  experience  and  conserva- 
tive of  precedent,  have  expanded   with  the   swelling 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  97 

tide  of  modern  thought  and  been  adjusted  to  the  new 
conditions  of  their  world-wide  conquest. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  faithfully 
reflects  the  cast  and  genius  of  our  people,  because  its 
principles  have  been  evolved  by  the  slow  working  pro- 
cess of  growth  in  the  English  race  and  in  the  American 
Colonies.  Its  framers,  studying  the  principles  of  the 
English  government,  drawing  essential  aid  from  the 
Constitutions  of  the  different  States,  and  improving  on 
the  shattered  wreck  of  the  Confederation,  builded  a 
structure  new,  whose  every  stone  had  been  quarried 
from  former  governments.  And  yet,  all  that  savored 
of  mere  theory  or  was  not  in  harmony  with  the  nation's 
growth  has  proven  inadequate  and  worked  with  sore 
friction. 

The  Democratic  idea,  incarnated  in  our  Constitu- 
tion, in  its  convulsive  struggle  of  growth,  in  its  pro- 
gressive actualization  in  the  life  of  the  individual, 
bursts  through  all  boundaries  and  works  constantly 
for  the  regeneration  of  American  thought  and  the 
readjustment  of  American  institutions. 

The  noble  formula  of  Jefferson  that  "All  men  are 
created  free  and  equal,"  has  grown  into  a  fuller  mean- 
ing, abolishing  slavery,  extending  the  franchise,  and 
leavening  the  masses  with  political  education. 

The  politics  of  the  country  is  a  practical  readjust- 
ment of  its  institutions  to  this  unfolding  idea,  an  effort 
for  its  fuller  realization  and  the  continuous  application 
of  old  principles  to  new  conditions.  This  industrial 
age,  with  its  great  cities  of  inadequate  governments, 
with  its  corporate  wealth  and  restless  labor,  demands 
constant  reversion  to  first  principles,  and  their  restate- 
ment and  fitter  application  to  existing  problems. 

But  the  American  genius,  which  wrought  out  from 


98  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

the  ruins  of  the  past  the  free  institutions  of  the  pres- 
ent, can,  if  attentive  to  its  ever-broadening  life,  read- 
just them  to  the  needs  of  the  future. 

The  virtue  and  integrity  of  a  nation's  character,  the 
strength  and  purity  of  a  nation's  faith,  and  not  the  out- 
ward pomp  of  industrial  statistics,  nor  the  enchanted 
parchment  of  its  Constitution,  perpetuate  a  nation's 
life. 

All  the  aspirations  of  the  nation's  heart,  and  all  the 
problems  that  tear  its  flesh,  must  draw  their  nourish- 
ment or  read  their  doom  from  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
national  spirit,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  national  char- 
acter. 


OUR  RETIRING  PRESIDENT-K.  P.  BATTLE 

With  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Battle  as  President  of 
the  University,  an  interesting  and  instructive  chapter 
in  its  history  is  closed,  one  that  spans  the  interval  of 
State  poverty  and  denominational  opposition.  It  has 
not  only  been  a  period  of  resuscitation,  but  of  larger 
growth. 

Dr.  Battle  entered  the  University  in  1845  and  has 
been,  as  student,  tutor  of  mathematics,  Trustee,  Sec- 
retary, Treasurer,  member  of  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee and  President,  connected  with  it  ever  since.  In 
1875  he  raised  $20,000  for  repairs;  he  likewise  was 
active  in  getting  the  General  Assembly  to  pay  the 
$7,500  interest  on  the  Land  Scrip  Fund,  which  had 
been  invested  in  State  bonds.  This  enabled  the  Trus- 
tees to  elect  a  Faculty  and  open  the  doors  for  students 
in  1875. 

A  chairman  of  the  Faculty,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Phil- 
lips, was  tried  for  a  year,  but  owing  to  his  poor  health. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  99 

the  plan  did  not  succeed.  After  the  strong  solicitation 
of  his  many  friends,  Dr.  Battle  allowed  his  name  to  go 
before  the  Board,  and  he  was  elected  almost  unani- 
mously. 

Immediately  he  visited  the  agricultural  and  mechan- 
ical colleges  of  the  North,  and  reported  that  the  neces- 
sary work  of  such  institutions  could  not  be  supported 
without  additional  support  from  the  State  or  other 
source.  He  made  many  speeches  in  the  State  and 
before  the  General  Assembly  in  favor  of  an  appropria- 
tion for  an  Experiment  and  Fertilizer  Control  Station 
at  Chapel  Hill.  This  was  the  first  effort  of  the  kind  in 
the  South,  and  was  successful  till  the  want  of  funds 
weakened  it,  and  it  was  removed  to  Raleigh ;  and  in 
1887  a  separate  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 
was  there  established,  and  the  $7,500  a  year  transferred 
to  it  from  the  University. 

Foreseeing  this  would  be  done,  President  Battle  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  $5,000  in  1881,  and  $15,000  in  1885, 
in  grants  from  the  State  Treasury.  Previous  to  1881 
the  University  had  never  had  a  dollar  appropriation 
from  the  State. 

His  administration  of  fifteen  years  has  witnessed 
great  improvements : 

The  obsolete  system  of  espionage  has  been  abolished, 
and  the  students  and  Faculty  now  work  in  harmony. 

The  instruction  has  been  broadened  and  deepened; 
the  number  of  professors  is  now  greater  than  before 
the  war. 

The  Departments  of  Medicine,  Natural  History  and 
Electrical  Engineering  have  been  added,  and  that  of 
English  has  been  greatly  extended. 

Physics  is  now  taught  practically  as  well  as  theoret- 


100  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ically ;  Latin  and  Greek  Composition  and  sight-reading 
have  been  introduced. 

The  Department  of  Law  is  taught  by  a  professor 
who  gives  his  whole  time  to  his  chair. 

Instead  of  three  we  now  have  five  laboratories. 

The  Museums  have  been  extended  and  arranged. 
Many  thousand  dollars  have  been  expended  for  appa- 
ratus, maps  and  new  books :  and  a  working  library  is 
now  open  every  day.  By  the  consolidation  of  the  two 
Society  libraries  with  that  of  the  University  an  excel- 
lent library  has  been  formed. 

The  Alitchell  Scientific  Society,  the  best  in  the  South, 
whose  publications  are  exchanged  with  similar  societies 
in  America,  Europe  and  Asia,  has  been  formed,  and  a 
fine  scientific  library  accumulated. 

The  Shakespeare  Club,  a  successful  organization,  is 
in  operation. 

The  Reading  Room  is  now  open  every  day. 

The  Gymnasium  has  been  built,  additions  have  been 
made  to  Person  Hall,  and  the  whole  turned  into  the 
Chemical  Lecture  Hall  and  Laboratories. 

A  splendid  auditorium,  to  commemorate  the  worthy 
dead  of  the  University,  Memorial  Hall,  has  been 
erected. 

A  branch  railroad,  largely  by  University  influence, 
now  connects  Chapel  Hill  with  the  outside  world. 

The  first  endowment  of  any  chair,  that  of  History, 
was  during  this  administration. 

There  have  been  raised  $110,000  from  private  bene- 
factors, not  counting  the  State  appropriation  nor  that 
of  Mrs.  Mary  Smith  Morehead,  now  in  litigation. 

During  this  administration  the  Summer  Normal 
School  was  conducted  for  four  years  with  great  results 
toward  building  up  the  graded  schools  and  education 


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JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  101 

generally.  But  these  are  not  all,  Dr.  Battle  has  found 
time  to  write  elaborate  monographs  on  many  subjects 
of  historical  interest.  His  "History  of  the  Supreme 
Court"  was  thought  by  the  Judges  to  be  so  valuable  as 
to  deserve  publication  in  Vol.  103  of  the  Reports  of 
their  Decisions.  His  "Judicial  Proceedings  of  the 
New  Testament,"  delivered  before  the  Institute  of 
Christian  Philosophy  in  New  York,  and  published  in 
"Christian  Thoughts,"  received  the  commendations  of 
the  great  English  historian.  Freeman,  and  Dr.  Noah 
Davis,  Dr.  C.  F.  Deems  and  many  others. 

For  fifteen  years  Dr.  Battle  has  impersonated  this 
institution  as  no  other  could,  and  now  that  he  retires 
from  the  anxious  care  of  the  Presidency  to  the  more 
-reflective  atmosphere  of  historical  study  we  all,  friends. 
Faculty  and  students,  wish  him  as  great  success  in  the 
future  as  he  has  achieved  in  the  past. 


THE  DIALECTIC  SOCIETY 

In  this  University,  second  only  to  the  class  room 
drill,  in  shaping  the  life  and  thought  of  its  members, 
stands  the  Dialectic  Society.  Only  those  who  have 
entered  its  sanctum  sanctorum  can  appreciate  its  true 
worth  and  character.  But  although  its  inmost  life  is 
screened  by  the  veil  of  secrecy,  still  it  has  certain  well- 
known  externals. 

During  the  session  of  1891 -'92  it  has  numbered  over 
ninety  (90)  active  members,  receiving  many  valuable 
additions  to  its  already  beautiful  hall  in  the  way  of 
chandeliers  and  portraits  of  distinguished  alumni,  and 
quite  naturally  had  its  whole  life  quickened  by  the 
spirit  of  reform  pervading  the  institution. 


102  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Recent  changes  in  its  organization  have  had  the 
beneficial  effect  of  stimulating  debate,  making  it  more 
general,  and  giving  it  decided  preference  as  a  literary 
exercise.  That  healthy  society-pride,  which  for  a  cen- 
tury has  characterized  the  Dialectic  Society,  spreading 
upon  its  walls  the  proofs  of  greatness  and  flecking  the 
State's  history  with  statesmen,  still  beats  steady  and 
strong  and  with  every  recurring  inter-society  contest 
inspires  and  rewards  its  representatives.  The  Dialec- 
tic Society  inculcates  high  ideals  of  life.  However 
careless  a  member  may  be  in  observing  becoming  de- 
corum, however  negligent  in  performing  required  du- 
ties, whatever  else  he  may  lack,  one  thing  is  essential, 
unsuspected  honor.  No  member  whose  honesty  was 
questioned,  or  w^hose  honor  was  doubted,  would  be  re- 
spected or  tolerated.  The  Dialectic  Society  yields  the 
first  place  to  no  similar  body  in  the  observance  of  the 
proper  dignity  and  correct  parliamentary  practices. 
Happily  within  its  walls  those  restraints  of  the  class 
room,  due  to  the  presence  and  records  of  professors, 
are  all  unknown.  Perfect  independence  and  absolute 
equality  belong  to  all.  There  class  standing  and  so- 
cial distinctions  are  forgotten.  In  this  youthful  de- 
mocracy every  one  is  valued  and  rewarded  strictly 
according  to  his  performance  of  society  duties.  The 
Dialectic  Society  has  proven  a  choice  field  for  the  tyro 
of  politics  and  the  student  of  human  nature.  There 
we  see  the  very  springs  of  life  at  work.  The  impres- 
sions there  formed  are  just,  and  the  indications  there 
given  are  prophetic. 

Perhaps  the  Society  has  never  stood  in  greater  need 
of  staunch  supporters  of  its  rights  and  examples  of  its 
good  influence  than  at  present.  That  spirit  of  today 
v^hich  would  depreciate  the  value  of  literary  societies 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  103 

increases.  The  ramifications  of  our  University's  life 
constantly  tend  to  usurp  the  Society's  proper  functions, 
as  may  be  exampled  in  the  management  of  the  Library 
and  the  practice  of  not  requiring  Law  and  Medical 
students  to  join  the  societies. 

Viewing  the  past  with  pride  and  the  future  with 
hope,  our  sincerest  wish  is  that  the  Dialectic  Society 
may  be  able  to  adapt  itself  to  ever-changing  conditions 
so  as  to  exert  upon  its  future  members  the  same  magic 
power  that  gave  us  a  Mangum  and  a  Polk,  a  Badger 
and  a  Vance. 


THE  ELECTORAL  COLLEGE 

The  question  is  often  asked :  Why  was  the  Electoral 
College  first  established  and  why  do  we  not  more  often 
see  the  reason  for  it  set  forth?  This  was  amply  con- 
sidered by  its  originators,  who  were  no  followers  of  an 
Utopian  theory  of  government,  nor  were  they  libertine 
practitioners.  Since  the  President  is  invested  with  the 
great  appointment  and  veto  power,  and  since  the  two 
houses  of  Congress  are  generally  so  equally  divided 
between  the  two  political  parties,  the  power,  and  hence 
the  election,  of  the  President  is  of  great  importance. 
The  House  of  Representatives  is  elected  directly  by  the 
people  according  to  a  ratio  of  population ;  the  Senate 
by  the  States  upon  the  basis  of  equality;  the  President 
by  a  combination  of  the  two  in  an  easy  and  equitable 
manner.  If  the  President  be  elected  directly  by  the 
people,  two  of  the  elective  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment will  be  elected  by  the  people,  one  by  the  States. 
And  when  a  President  shall  have  been  elected  directly 
by  the  people  alone  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
States,  it  will  have  been  the  first  official  act  of  the 


104  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

American  people  in  the  aggregate  in  all  their  history. 
The  question  then  works  a  revolution  in  the  division 
of  power  and  attacks  a  vital  principle  of  government 
upon  local  facts  and  transient  causes.  A  principle  of 
government  is  inseparably  engrafted  into  human  na- 
ture by  Omniscience  himself  and  is  suited  to  all  lands 
and  times  and  can  never  fail ;  but  facts,  when  their 
immediate  surroundings  have  vanished,  are  of  no  avail 
whatever.  So  let  us  consider  whether  or  not  the  prin- 
ciple involved  is  worthy  of  preservation. 

This  is  a  union  of  States  and  people,  and  not  people 
alone.  The  proposed  system  provides  that  the  two 
votes  which  represent  the  sovereignty  of  the  States 
shall  be  removed  and  that  the  nation  shall  be  considered 
as  a  union  of  people  alone,  disregarding  State  rights 
altogether.  This  country  was  settled  with  reference  to 
its  very  dissimilar  climates,  soils,  and  surfaces ;  and  so 
separate  charters  were  given,  from  which  came  the 
States.  These  unitedly  achieved  individual  independ- 
ence; and  entered  into  the  present  form  of  govern- 
ment, surrendering  some  individual  rights  for  the 
necessary  union,  just  as  man  must  surrender  some 
natural  rights  in  order  to  have  any  government  what- 
ever ;  but  they  kept  the  States  sufficiently  strong  to  pro- 
tect the  people  in  their  natural  rights  and  local  interests 
while  the  union  bound  them  together  for  mutual  aid 
and  their  general  welfare.  It  was  a  government  dis- 
tinct as  to  domestic  concerns,  but  united  as  to  foreign, 
with  the  liberty  of  a  democracy  joined  fo  the  energ}'' 
of  a  monarchy  or  a  confederate  republic;  it  was  a 
checkmate  against  the  great  sectional  interests  of  the 
wide-spreading  republic.  The  manner  in  which  the 
colonies  achieved  their  independence,  the  discussions 
in  the  Constitutional  Convention,  the  manner  in  which 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  105 

the  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  all  the  writings  of 
those  nation-builders  clearly  and  undeniably  prove  that 
this  is  a  union  of  States  and  people ;  from  which  we 
draw  the  logical  conclusion  that  State  rights  are  far 
more  important  than  union  itself.  United  States 
means  simply  States  united.  One  reason  why  this  sys- 
tem is  just,  is  that  it  has  suited  itself  to  the  national 
growth.  The  extent  of  the  country  and  the  dignity  of 
the  highest  office  prevent  a  personal  canvass,  and  since 
the  people  must  hear  of  their  candidates  and  their 
principles,  what  could  be  a  more  convenient  method 
than  that  of  electors  ? 

Does  the  change  proposed  do  more  than  give  a  mor- 
tal stab  to  State  rights?  Yes,  it  destroys  the  equilib- 
rium of  the  component  parts  which  make  the  govern- 
ment. The  basis  of  that  great  natural  law,  the  law  of 
gravitation,  is  that  every  atom  in  the  universe  attracts 
every  other  atom.  Upon  the  same  law  the  present  sys- 
tem is  founded,  that  power  can  only  oppose  power ; 
organization,  organization.  Upon  this  balance  of 
power  all  governments  of  long  duration  or  great 
achievement  have  been  constructed.  Consider  Eng- 
land, that  mass  of  strength  and  good  government,  for 
which  she  is  indebted  to  the  balance  of  her  government, 
monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy — monarchy 
holding  the  balance  between  the  other  two  and  forming 
an  alliance  with  neither.  Just  so,  but  improved  and 
more  minutely  adjusted  is  ours,  John  Adams,  that  ac- 
complished statesman  and  scientific  lawyer,  clearly  elu- 
cidates this  system  of  government,  which  is  in  itself 
an  explanation,  when  he  says :  "The  American  system 
of  government  is  an  elaborate  system  of  checks  and 
balances ;  the  States  are  balanced  against  the  general 
government ;  the  House  of  Representatives  against  the 


106  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Senate;  the  Executive  against  the  Legislative;  the 
Judiciary  against  the  Executive,  the  Legislative  and 
the  State  governments.  The  Senate  is  balanced 
against  the  President  in  all  appointments;  the  people 
hold  in  their  own  hands  the  balance  against  their  rep- 
resentatives by  periodical  elections;  the  State  Legisla- 
tures are  balanced  against  the  Uhited  States  Senate ; 
the  Electors  are  balanced  against  the  people  in  the 
choice  of  President  and  Vice-President."  And  this  is 
a  combination  and  refinement  of  checks  and  balances 
unknown  to  past  history  and  unequalled  in  perfection 
of  operation.  The  States  are  interested  far  more  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  which  of  late  years  (sad  proof  of 
our  degeneracy,  for  the  States  themselves  should 
always  be  the  final  judges  of  their  powers)  fixes  the 
boundaries  between  the  jurisdiction  of  the  nation  and 
States  than  any  individual.  Elect  the  President  by  the 
popular  vote  and  the  States  will  have  less  influence  in 
its  composition.  In  this  government  where  so  much 
depends  upon  the  separate  members  of  the  government, 
the  Legislative,  Executive,  and  Judiciary,  great  care 
should  be  taken  to  place  them  in  power  at  different 
times  and  in  different  ways  and  thus  prevent  all  abrupt 
changes  worked  by  the  fickleness  of  public  opinion. 
The  proposed  system  not  only  changes  the  manner  of 
the  election  but  also  the  source ;  it  moves  the  point 
from  which  the  government  has  always  been  weighed ; 
it  changes  the  pivot  upon  which  it  has  ever  turned. 
Confidence  is  the  handmaid  of  despotism;  but  jealousy 
is  the  safety-valve  of  freedom;  and  upon  jealousy, 
doubt,  and  checks  the  Electoral  College  is  founded. 

Thus  plumbed  by  the  rules  of  Political  Economy, 
collected  through  forty  centuries  of  experience,  this 
symmetrical  edifice  of  constitutional  government  rises 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  107 

with  the  Electoral  College  as  its  key-arch,  or,  rather, 
in  the  scientific  regularity  of  its  motions,  it  resembles 
the  mechanism  of  the  universe.  "The  States  revolve 
each  upon  its  own  axis,  within  its  own  orbit,  each 
according  to  its  own  laws,  some  faster,  some  slower, 
one  at  one  angle,  one  at  another;  but  around  the  cen- 
tral sun  at  Washington  they  tread  the  great  national 
orbit  under  equal  conditions,  and  constituent  parts  of 
the  one  great  whole."  Shall  we,  then,  by  this  change 
destroy  an  equipoise  of  power  centered  in  the  present 
system,  which  under  the  most  trying  ordeals  has  never 
varied  in  the  least  ? 

But  it  is  said  that  where  the  people  boast  of  their 
liberty  a  majority  of  the  people  should  rule.  The 
majority  spoken  of  is  simply  the  absolute  majority  or 
the  greatest  number.  This  may  be  just  in  a  country  of 
narrow  limits  and  similar  interests,  but  never  in  one  so 
dissimilar  by  nature  as  this,  and  where  the  people  have 
such  conflicting  interests.  There  is  no  trait  of  human 
nature  more  universally  and  identically  true  than  that 
of  self-interest;  and  it  is  always  unwise  to  intrust  a 
people  with  power  which  by  being  abused  operates 
to  their  own  advantage.  The  rruinority  deserves  protec- 
tion as  well  as  the  majority,  as  seen  through  the  pre- 
cautions of  Nature.  The  rule  of  the  absolute  majority 
is  only  another  name  for  that  abominable  pretension 
that  the  end  of  government  is  the  greatest  good  for  the 
greatest  number.  When  this  idea  rules  every  one 
thinks  his  own  good  the  good  of  the  greatest  number 
and  acts  accordingly,  and  sectional  tyranny  is  the  inev- 
itable result.  The  true  end  of  government  is  the  great- 
est good  for  every  one,  with  injury  to  none;  this 
necessitates  the  consultation  of  the  general  good,  which 
requires    the    concurring    majority.     The    concurring 


108  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

majority  is  the  rule  of  all;  the  absolute  of  only  a  sec- 
tion. A  concurring  majority  is  a  majority  of  both  the 
majority  and  the  minority;  thus  in  the  number  forty, 
twenty-one  is  the  absolute  majority,  nineteen  the  help- 
less minority;  but  take  eleven,  the  majority  of  the 
majority,  and  ten,  the  majority  of  the  minority;  put 
them  together,  and  they  make  twenty-one,  the  true  con- 
curring majority.  And  since  great  and  important 
measures  require  a  two-thirds  or  three-fourths  major- 
ity, to  accomplish  anything  each  side  must  consult  the 
interest  of  the  other.  This  beneficent  principle  runs 
throughout  the  government,  and  in  no  part  more  than 
in  the  Electoral  College,  w^hich  requires  a  majority, 
when  blended  together,  of  both  the  people  and  the 
States,  both  of  which  are  equally  interested.  All  gov- 
ernments worth  the  name  have  been  ruled  by  the  con- 
curring majority.  See  little  heroic  Switzerland  cling- 
ing to  the  jagged  slopes  and  craggy  heights  of  the 
snow-clad  Alps  with  no  greater  tenacity  than  she  has 
clung  to  her  democratic  institutions  amid  the  upheav- 
ings  of  the  surrounding  States  and  the  onslaughts 
made  by  the  haters  of  freedom.  For  centuries  she  has 
been  the  blood-spot  in  the  eyes  of  European  despots, 
and  can  yet  boast  as  free,  intelligent,  and  industrious  a 
people  as  any  government  under  the  sun ;  and  for  all 
this  she  can  only  point  to  the  fact  that  her  twenty-two 
equal  cantons  elect  one  branch- of  her  assembly,  the 
people  the  other,  and  these  two  combined  elect  the 
executive  authority;  founded  on  the  concurring  major- 
ity from  first  to  last.  So  for  the  want  of  this  the 
Plebeians  seceded  from  the  Patricians,  endangering 
and  rending  the  rising  city,  but  when  the  concurring 
majority  was  restored,  Rome  spread  her  triumphant 
arch  over  the  seven  hills,  unfurled  her  eagles  in  every 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  109 

land,  and  attained  to  the  empire  of  the  world.  The 
absolute  majority  is  founded  on  the  supremacy  of  one 
idea,  which,  be  it  ever  so  good,  is  narrow,  contracted, 
and  unsafe,  and  tends  to  despotism  and  stagnation 
rather  than  to  liberty  and  to  progress.  It  holds  its 
authority  not  by  consent  or  right,  but  dominates  over 
all  by  the  sheer  force  of  numbers.  Let  not  bombastic 
appeals  for  the  rule  of  the  majority  overturn  a  tried 
and  unfailing  principle. 

One  hundred  years  ago  when  this  government  was 
founded  it  embraced  comparatively  small  limits  and  a 
smaller  population.  Hostile  England,  the  mistress  of 
the  seas,  held  Canada  on  the  north,  envious  Spain  held 
the  southern  borders,  the  bloodthirsty  Indian  skulked 
along  the  western  frontier,  and  Europe  was  heaving 
with  revolutions  set  atlame  by  our  example ;  nor  had 
the  different  nationalities  become  conscious  of  a  com- 
mon cause  and  a  common  destiny.  Thus  all  things 
conspired  to  make  a  strong  national  government  neces- 
sary. But  today  when  all  these  dangers  are  no  more, 
and  when  steam,  electricity,  and  the  printing  press 
have  made  the  sections  as  communicative  as  the  mem- 
bers of  a  family,  and  after  the  Union's  strength  has 
been  tried  in  an  unprecedented  contest,  we  do  not  need 
so  strong  a  national  government.  Notwithstanding  all 
this  the  Union  has  gradually  become  stronger  and 
stronger  and  the  States  w^eaker  and  weaker  till  today 
the  greatest  evidence  of  this  absorption  of  State  rights 
by  the  general  government  is  that  an  unblushing  at- 
tempt can  be  advocated  here  in  this  democratic  and 
constitution-upholding  land  to  remove  the  Electoral 
College,  which  carries  with  it  the  last  barrier  against 
consolidation.  The  States  have  no  rights  but  sover- 
eign rights;  take  them  and  all  is  gone.     The  glorious 


no  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

doctrine  of  State  Rights  was  not  surrendered  at  Ap- 
pomattox, only  its  forcible  preservation;  it  still  exists 
and  is  the  brightest  star  of  self-government.  The  dan- 
ger to  be  feared  is  that  this  tendency  towards  consoli- 
dation is  foretold  by  no  oracles  and  ushered  in  by  no 
portents,  but  the  sands  that  are  to  crush  us  silently 
glide  from  one  balance  to  the  other.  Only  those  inter- 
ested in  protecting  should  have  the  power  to  protect; 
the  States  are  parties  to  the  Union,  they  are  bound, 
they  depend  upon  it,  and  w'hen  their  influence  suc- 
cumbs to  that  of  the  nation,  the  government  will  have 
reached  that  stage  from  which  State  rights,  and  hence 
human  liberty,  can  never  be  rescued.  There  is  no 
difference  betwen  consolidation  and  empire,  centrali- 
zation .  and  imperialism.  Alexander  Hamilton,  that 
arch-advocate  of  a  consolidated  government,  himself 
has  said  that  the  general  government  can  gain  nothing 
by  destroying  State  governments,  and  that  "the  States 
can  never  lose  their  power  till  the  whole  people  of 
America  are  robbed  of  their  liberties;  these  must  go 
together,  they  must  support  each  other  or  meet  one 
common  fate."  And  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  that  unbiased  authority,  has  said  that  the  States 
have  given  up  all  the  powers  possible  still  to  exist,  and 
that  "this  is  an  indivisible  union  of  indestructible 
States."  What  higher  or  more  ominous  warnings 
could  be  given  to  stay  the  centralizing  tendency  and 
uphold  State  rights  as  the  polestar  of  liberty  and  the 
palladium  of  the  nation's  hope?  Even  at  the  present 
the  smaller  States  are  overshadowed  by  the  greater 
ones;  if  a  State  be  large  and  populous  it  has  more 
power  in  one  branch  of  Congress  and  gets  more  pro- 
tection from  the  government,  and  should  be  equal  in 
the  other,  just  as  individuals  of  whom  one  may  be  ten 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  111 

times  as  rich  and  wise,  but  has  no  more  political  power. 
While  a  voter  in  Montana  may  have  more  power  than 
one  in  New  York,  yet  Time,  the  leveller  of  all  things, 
will  soon  fill  up  those  valleys  and  mountains  with  pop- 
ulation, making  the  ratio  more  equal;  and  New  York 
has  already  too  much  power.     The  quick  palpitations 
of  the  nation's  political  heart  tell  too  plainly  how  surely 
this   nation  is   attacked  by  the  malady  that   infected 
Greece  wthen  Sparta,  Athens,  and  Thebes  all  in  turn 
monopolized  power,  lorded  it  over  the  other  common- 
wealths, and  transformed  beneficent  democracies  into 
despotic  monarchies.     The  States  are  the  constitution 
and  law-making  authority — the  nation  only  the  law- 
making, and,  therefore,  subordinate.    But  there  is  great 
danger  that  the  nation  will  come  to  consider  the  Con- 
stitution   not    the    source    of    their    power,    but    only 
shackles  upon  its  own;  and  this  is  the  chief  of  those 
attempts.     The  law-making  authority  is  organized  and 
in  constant  action,  having  the  control  of  the  honors 
and  emoluments  of  office ;  but  the  constitution-making 
authority  lies  dormant  in  the  great  inert  mass  of  the 
community  till  called  into  action  at  distant  intervals 
and    on   extraordinary   occasions,    and   then    only   by 
granting  powers,  not  executing  them.     The  result  is 
inevitable  when  the  nation  is  trying  to  throw  off  the 
restrictions  of  the  States.     There  indeed  appears  to  be 
a  great  and  prevailing  principle  that  tends  to  place  the 
delegated  powers  in  opposition  to  the  delegating,  the 
created  to  the  creating,  reaching  far  beyond  man  and 
his   works  up  to  the  universal  source  of  all  power. 
"The  earliest  pages  of  sacred  history  record  the  rebel- 
lion of  the  archangels  against  the  high  authority  of 
Heaven  itself;"  and  ancient  mythology  the  war  of  the 
Titans  against  Jupiter,  which,  according  to  the  narra- 


112  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

tive,  menaced  the  universe  with  destruction.  This  all- 
pervading  principle  is  at  work  in  our  system;  and 
unless  the  government  be  bolted  and  chained  down 
with  links  of  adamant  by  the  hands  of  the  States  which 
created  it,  the  creature  will  usurp  the  place  of  the 
creator,  and  universal  political  idolatry  overspread  the 
land.  If  the  Electoral  College  be  torn  away,  the  States 
will  lose  an  indispensable  guarantee  of  their  individu- 
ality ;  the  Union  will  be  sufficiently  strong  to  disregard 
the  States ;  the  division  of  power,  which  is  now  equal, 
will  then  be  two  for  the  Union  and  one  for  the  State ; 
the  despotic  principle  of  the  absolute  majority  will  be 
unanimously  engrafted  into  our  now  glorious  govern- 
ment ;  the  deplorable  tendency  towards  centralization 
will  receive  such  an  impetus  as  to  send  the  nation 
clanking  into  despotism.  In  the  face  of  these  evils, 
and  remembering  the  benign  influences  from  the  pres- 
ent system,  let  no  patriotic  voice  be  heard  to  applaud 
the  groundless  prejudice  against  the  present  system; 
but  let  all  from  every  mountain  top  swell  with  stento- 
rian thunder  that  glorious  acclaim :  "Grand  principle 
of  government,  live  forever !" 


HOME  RULE  FOR  THE  IRISH 

FIRST  SPEECH. 

The  laws  of  nature  and  the  laws  of  man  may  modify 
the  character  of  a  people,  but  when  we  see  a  once  pow- 
erful people  failing  in  every  effort  and  relinquishing  a 
continent  to  their  contestants  till  at  last  their  one  home 
is  but  a  rocky  fragment  of  that  continent  amid  peat- 
bogs and  sage-brush,  and  suffering  for  centuries  the 
domination  of  an  alien  race  without  liberty  and  without 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  113 

country,  we  know  that  that  people  lacks  the  first  and 
strongest  instinct,  that  of  self-preservation,  that  it  is 
unworthy  of  a  country  and  incapable  of  governing  one. 
Unequal  odds  may  crush  out  a  feeble  band,  as  of  Leon- 
idas  and  of  Custer,  but  five  millions  united  in  a  com- 
mon cause  and  protected  by  the  ocean's  wall,  cannot  be 
conquered  if  deserving  to  be  free.  Holland  opened 
her  dykes  and  Switzerland  loosed  her  crags  on  an 
invading  foe,  and  they  preserved  that  liberty  which 
Ireland  did  not.  Had  she  been  true  to  herself  and 
deserving  of  a  country,  today  the  evergreen  flag  would 
float  over  College  Green,  and  Erin  Go  Bragh  would 
be  symbolical  of  a  free  and  united  country  rather  than 
of  subjection  and  sorrow. 

We  grant  that  the  Irish  have  many  lovely  traits, 
many  noble  qualities,  that  her  history  is  bright  with 
martyrs,  patriots,  poets,  lawyers,  and  statesmen;  but 
the  rank  and  file  of  that  race  are  stamped  with  inferi- 
ority and  doomed  to  decay.  Of  her  great  characters 
and  able  leaders,  O'Connell,  alone,  was  of  Irish  de- 
scent; Grattan,  Burke,  Sheridan,  Canning,  Swift, 
Flood,  Correy,  Moore,  and  Butt,  were  one-half  or 
three-fourths  English,  and  Parnell  has  not  a  drop  of 
Irish  blood  in  his  veins.  The  Irish  bears  the  stamp 
of  the  primitive  man ;  his  instincts  are  still  primal 
and  those  of  the  clansman  whose  heart  craves  a  chief. 
He  is  a  hero-worshiper,  and  cannot  grasp  grand  and 
noble  principles,  but  grovels  before  a  priest  in  religion 
and  a  boss  in  politics.  He  has  no  obedience  to  law,  no 
method  of  civilized  government.  His  primitive  condi- 
tion was  that  of  subjection  to  hostile  chiefs  warring 
for  supremacy  and  murdering  for  pleasure ;  his  mediae- 
val condition  was  that  of  factions  torn  and  bleeding; 
and  at  present,  when  of  all  countries  we  would  most 


114  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

expect  Ireland  to  present  an  united  front,  we  see  her 
discordant,  dissvmded,  torn  asunder  by  her  own  talons, 
not  even  united  against  her  deadly  enemy  (so-called) 
nor  unanimous  for  that  priceless  heritage  of  a  free 
country. 

Let  us  do  the  Irishman  justice;  but  take  the  history 
which  he  has  written  in  Ireland  herself  and  under  the 
free  institutions  of  our  country,  and  we  pronounce  him 
incapable  of  self-government.  Personally  he  has  too 
often  been  treacherous  and  corruptible ;  socially  he  has 
no  sense  of  decency  and  no  pride  of  honor ;  nationally 
no  high  ideal,  no  obedience  to  law. 

With  Home  Rule  the  heterogeneous  character  of 
Ireland's  population,  the  diversity  of  her  classes,  the 
certainty  of  class  legislation,  the  declared  intention  of 
independence,  the  hatred  of  England  and  England's 
interest,  and  perhaps  the  reserved  veto  must  multiply 
the  opportunities  of  irritation  and  collision ;  and  the 
wounds  of  seven  centuries,  wh\ch  are  now  healing, 
must  be  torn  open  anew. 

Parnell  admits  that  he  cares  not  a  straw  for  Home 
Rule  save  as  a  means  of  independence,  and  that,  with 
Home  Rule,  he  would  not  rest  until  he  had  destroyed 
the  last  link  that  bound  Ireland  to  England,  and  that 
he  only  wants  an  opportunity  to  effect  it  by  force  of 
arms.  When  he  uttered  this  he  was  the  trusted  leader  of 
the  Home  Rule  party.  Gladstone  said  on  October  27, 
1888 :  "It  is  idle  to  talk  of  law,  or  order,  or  liberty,  or 
religion,  or  civilization,  if  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  friends 
are  to  carry  through  the  reckless  and  chaotic  schemes 
which  they  have  devised.  Rapine  is  their  first,  but  not 
their  only  object;  for  they  wish  to  march  through 
rapine  to  the  dismemberment  and  disintegration  of  the 
Empire." 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  115 

When  England  was  securing  her  Protestantism, 
when  she  was  beheading  a  tyrant  and  obtaining  the 
Bill  of  Rights,  when  Napoleon  I  was  raging  through 
Europe  like  an  uncaged  lion,  when  Napoleon  III  was 
lighting  the  torch  of  his  hopes  from  the  fires  of  revo- 
lution— at  every  crisis  in  England's  history,  when  our 
religion,  her  government,  and  her  existence  were  at 
stake — Ireland  has  thrown  her  rebellious  form  across 
England's  pathway  and  joined  reeking  hands  with 
England's  enemies.  This  should  palliate,  if  it  cannot 
justify,  the  rigor  of  English  rule.  We  know  that 
American  Fenianism  has  twice  invaded  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.  We  know  that  Irish  rebels  and  American 
Fenians  unfurled  the  blood-red  banner  of  revolt  in  '65  ; 
we  know  that  Ireland's  dynamite  bombs  have  thun- 
dered above  the  Tower  of  Westminster,  and  we  know 
that  with  Independence  or  Home  Rule  Ireland  would 
become  the  clandestine  recruiting  ground  and  drill- 
yard  for  England's  enemies. 

Ireland  can  gain  nothing  by  leaving  the  Imperial 
Parliament.  She  enjoys  an  equal  franchise.  An  Irish 
member  represents  48,000  inhabitants,  an  English 
member  54,000,  and  a  Scotch  member  63,000;  or  the 
Irish  member  represents  6,000  less  than  the  English, 
and  15,000  less  than  the  Scotch  member.  An  Irish 
member  represents  i63,000,  an  English  member  ill8,- 
000,  and  a  Scotch  member  £133,000 ;  or  the  Irish  mem- 
ber represents  considerably  less  than  one-half  that  of 
the  Scotch  member.  (These  figures  were  taken  from 
Gladstone  himself.)  Thus  Ireland  has  undue  influ- 
ence in  the  Imperial  Parliament;  and  if  she  is  in  the 
minority  and  must  wait  on  English  opinion,  it  is  no 
more  than  parts  of  England  herself  must  do.  But  by 
controlling  the  balance  of  power  since  1830  she  has 


116  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

kept  no  less  than  eight  ministries  in  power  which  were 
hostile  to  English  opinion,  and  has  secured  wonderful 
reforms  for  herself.  She  receives  more  than  her 
share  of  the  government  patronage  in  civil,  naval,  and 
military  services,  and  the  Indian  Civil  Service  is  full 
of  Irishmen. 

Can  Home  Rule  benefit  Ireland  financially?  Home 
Rule  is  desired  as  a  means  of  procuring  a  protective 
tariff.  Not  considering  the  hostile  collision  with  Eng- 
land which  it  must  provoke,  it  could  not  benefit  Ire- 
land. One-third  of  Ireland,  the  manufacturing  Protes- 
tant section  whose  manufactures  have  been  built  up 
by  native  capital  and  enterprise,  bitterly  oppose  it ;  be- 
cause it  would  banish  English  capital  and  cripple  her 
own  industries  to  pay  bounties  to  numerous  pet 
schemes.  The  manufactures  of  Ulster  did  not  thrive 
till  the  system  of  bounties  was  abolished.  It  is  no 
trifling  advantage  to  Ireland  to  be  a  partner  with  the 
richest  capitalist  in  the  world,  a  capitalist  with  whom 
she  does  nineteen-twentieths  of  her  trading  and  one 
that  is  always  seeking  out  new  fields  for  investments. 
A  protective  tariff  would  close  English  markets,  the 
best  in  the  world,  against  her  labor  and  produce;  and 
instead  of  thriving  peacefully  under  the  policy  of  free 
trade,  which  has  given  her  her  present  manufactures, 
she  would  find  herself  in  the  commercial  arena  with 
England  for  an  antagonist. 

She  is  receiving  full  justice  in  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment. Because  of  public  need  and  for  local  works  the 
Government  during  the  last  fifty  years  has  taken 
power  to  give  i445,000  to  England  and  Scotland,  and 
to  Ireland  £8,500,000,  or  over  nineteen  times  as  much 
to  one-seventh  as  many  people.  Ireland  is  exempt 
from  certain  taxes,  as  the  excise  tax,  legacy  tax,  armo- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  117 

rial  bearings,  etc.,  which  in  England  produce  annually 
£4,500,000.  The  population  of  Ireland  is  one-seventh 
of  that  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  she  raises  but 
one-tenth  of  the  Imperial  revenue.  The  average  per 
head  in  England  and  Scotland  is  two  pounds  and  five 
shillings;  in  Ireland  one  pound  and  ten  shillings,  or 
thirty-two  per  cent  less.  In  Great  Britain  over  one- 
half  of  all  the  government  expenditures  for  police, 
courts,  etc.,  is  derived  from  local  sources ;  but  in  Ire- 
land, not  counting  the  occasional  military  which  is  sup- 
ported by  England,  less  than  one-sixth  is  derived  from 
local  sources ;  all  the  rest  is  paid  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment. In  England  over  one-half  the  expenditures  for 
public  education,  amounting  to  millions,  is  raised  from 
local  sources ;  but  in  Ireland  less  than  one-eighth  is  so 
raised,  all  the  rest  falling  on  the  Imperial  Exchequer. 
Thus  Ireland  draws  far  more  than  her  rightful  portion 
from  the  Imperial  Treasury,  to  which  she  does  not 
contribute  her  just  share. 

Let  us  see  if  Home  Rule  can  help  settle  the  Land 
Question.  There  has  been  an  enmity  of  race,  there 
has  been  an  enmity  of  religion,  but  at  the  root  of  all 
Irish  enmities  and  all  Irish  difficulties  has  always  been, 
and  is  today,  the  question  of  the  land.  The  mass  of 
the  Irish  people  care  nothing  for  Home  Rule  save  as  a 
means  of  Agrarian  reform;  and  when  this  end  is  ac- 
complished they  will  be  Unionists.  The  Irish  tenant 
has  Fixity  of  Tenure,  Free  Sale,  and  Fair  Rent — a 
rent  that  falls  with  the  price  of  produce  and  does  not 
rise  when  times  are  exceptionally  good.  He  has  com- 
pensation for  improvements  and  compensation  for  dis- 
turbance, and  has  absolute  free  sale.  If  he  becomes 
insolvent  from  any  cause  not  immediately  traceable  to 
his  own  imprudence  or  misconduct,  he  enjoys  a  greater 


118  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

immunity  than  any  English  debtor  in  similar  circum- 
stances. If  desired  there  is  a  court,  that  acts  on  the 
general  principles  of  justice,  to  which  the  tenant  and 
landlord  may  appeal  in  all  cases  whatever.  No  tenant 
can  be  evicted  except  for  a  breach  of  contract,  which 
may  be  referred  to  the  court.  This  court  fixes  rent 
for  fifteen  years,  during  which  time  the  rent  cannot  be 
raised,  and  at  its  expiration  may  be  renewed ;  and,  in 
fact,  a  vast  majority  of  the  rents  have  been  so  fixed. 

By  existing  law  all  contracts  unfavorable  to  the  ten- 
ant are  canceled  as  would  be  impossible  under  our 
Constitution.  Thus  tenants  who  entered  on  their  ten- 
ancies under  formal,  written  contracts  for  limited  pe- 
riods have  been  rooted  perpetually  on  their  holdings. 
By  the  Encumbered  Estate  Act  Ireland  was  relieved  of 
a  spendthrift  and  absentee  indebted  proprietary  and 
received  a  vast  amount  of  land  thereby  long  before 
England  herself  did.  The  Irish  tenant  was  made  a 
sharer  in  his  improvements  long  before,  and  receives 
greater  justice  today,  than  any  other  tenant  in  Europe. 
Under  these  laws  evictions  are  only  one-twentieth  as 
great  in  number  as  before.  England  has  Landlordism, 
too;  over  one-half  of  England  is  owned  by  five  or  six 
landlords,  and  four-fifths  of  the  land  is  tilled  by  ten- 
ants. In  England  and  Scotland  the  landlords  have 
rights  of  residence  and  eviction ;  and  the  tenant  has  no 
compensation  for  improvements,  no  fixity  of  tenure, 
and  no  court  of  appeal.  The  Irish  tenant  is  enriched 
at  the  landlord's  expense.  The  land  today  gives  the 
landlords  no  political  or  social  influence,  and  they  have 
no  means  of  sale  except  to  the  tenant,  who  buys  with- 
out competition.  By  these  land  reforms  the  landlords 
lose  over  one-third  of  the  value  of  their  property ;  and 
by  the  bill  of  purchase,  for  every  one  hundred  pounds 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  119 

to  which  he  is  entitled  by  the  clearest  legal  rights  as 
rent,  he  has  to  accept  £2,000  in  stock  yielding  him  as 
interest  only  £50.  Thus  he  loses  nearly  one-half  his 
income ;  no  wonder  so  many  are  bankrupt. 

Though  the  Irish  tenant  has  suffered  no  less  from 
his  own  imprudence,  unthrift,  and  agitation  than  from 
landlordism,  and  though  it  is  highly  probable  that 
there  will  always  be  either  English  or  Irish  landlords 
since  the  land  is  so  limited;  still  all  must  admit  that 
absentee  landlordism  should  be  rooted  out.  Can  Home 
Rule  effect  this  best?  The  English  tenant  has  no 
means  of  becoming  a  landowner;  but  the  Government 
lends  the  Irish  tenant  money  at  two  and  three-fourths 
per  cent,  interest  to  purchase  his  holding  at  any  time  or 
by  annuities  for  twenty  years,  and  no  power  on  earth 
can  retain  to  the  landlord  his  property  if  only  the 
tenant  avails  himself  of  this  offer.  During  the  first 
two  years  over  10,000  holdings  were  purchased,  and 
the  rate  has  since  annually  increased.  And  today  Ire- 
land would  be  in  the  hands  of  a  resident  proprietary 
but  for  the  boycott  and  midnight  assassin.  If  with 
Home  Rule  the  Land  Question  be  turned  over  to  Ire- 
land, according  to  their  own  declarations,  universal 
confiscation  will  follow  upon  the  doctrine  of  "Ireland 
for  the  Irish,"  which  would  require  the  tenant  to  share 
his  holding  with  his  laborers — a  doctrine  that  would 
undermine  social  order  and  private  property. 

But  if  with  Home  Rule  the  Government  advances 
£150,000,000,  as  was  Gladstone's  estimate,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  land,  the  interest  and  ultimately  the  prin- 
cipal must  be  paid,  not  to  landlords,  nine-tenths  of 
whom  have  heretofore  responded  favorably  to  the  ten- 
ant's demands,  but  to  government  officials.  This,  then, 
does  not  benefit  the  tenant's  condition.     Moreover,  this 


120  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

would  be  a  great  stride  toward  socialistic  government, 
and  doubtless  an  agitation  would  spring  up  to  cancel 
this  loan  and,  besides  bringing  a  collision,  it  would  fall 
on  the  British  taxpayer.  But  if  for  any  reason  this 
loan  should  be  made  or  this  gift  granted,  it  could  be 
done  equally  as  well  without  Home  Rule  as  with  it. 
Wherein,  then,  can  Home  Rule  benefit  the  Land  Ques- 
tion, which  is  the  very  bedrock  of  the  Irish  Question? 
With  this  equal  justice  in  England's  government  and 
in  England's  treasury  and  with  the  hopeful  condition 
of  her  land  problem,  what  of  her  progress?  The 
ninety  years  of  union  which  Gladstone  calls  an  "unmit- 
igated calamity"  have  given  Ireland  greater  prosperity 
than  the  five  preceding  centuries.  The  Registrar  Gen- 
eral of  Ireland  says  that  she  has  recovered  from  the 
Famine  more  quickly  and  completely  than  any  country 
has  ever  done.  He  shows  from  official  statistics 
that  Ireland  today  per  head  of  population  has  more 
pounds  of  assessment,  more  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  and 
poultry,  more  agricultural  produce,  more  tons  of  ship- 
ping, more  manufactures,  more  bank  deposits,  more 
capital  in  every  shape,  more  pupils  attending  school, 
more  miles  of  road  and  railway,  fewer  paupers,  fewer 
mud-huts  than  ever  before;  and  the  people  are  more 
contented.  Within  the  last  forty  years  Ireland's  reve- 
nue has  increased  176  per  cent;  the  number  of  her 
bank  deposits  258  per  cent,  and  the  amounts  deposited 
222  per  cent ;  all  of  which  are  about  45  per  cent  greater 
than  England's  increase.  In  the  most  disturbed  sec- 
tions of  Ireland  from  1880  to  1890  the  deposits  of  the 
Postoffice  Savings  Banks,  which  represent  the  small 
depositors  and  command  special  confidence,  increased 
on  an  average  75  per  cent,  and  in  the  country  at  large 
40  per  cent  more  than  in  England;  yet  in  all  these 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  121 

places  the  "Plan  of  Campaign"  has  been  invoked  on 
the  plea  of  poverty. 

Within  the  last  forty  years  2,000,000  acres  of  land 
have  been  reclaimed  and  rendered  productive,  which 
carries  with  it  inestimable  blessings.  A  slight  decrease 
in  crops  has  been  far  more  than  compensated  for  by  a 
vast  increase  in  stock  raising.  During  the  same  period 
the  manufacture  of  beer  has  increased  more  than 
threefold,  and  that  of  linen  twelvefold.  These  are  her 
two  greatest  industries.  The  mileage  and  returns  of 
her  railroads  and  also  of  her  shipping  have  more  than 
doubled. 

Meanwhile  wages  have  more  than  doubled,  with  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  character  of  dwellings, 
clothing,  and  food;  and  under  the  National  Educa- 
tional Act,  which  she  enjoyed  before  England  herself 
and  which  was  maintained  out  of  England's  treasury, 
her  illiteracy  has  decreased  30  per  cent.  Pauperism, 
crime,  and  religious  rancor  have  also  notably  subsided. 
And  this  progress  has  taken  place  not  only  with  a  con- 
stantly decreasing  population,  but  in  the  presence  of 
social  revolution. 

Taking  the  question,  then,  as  a  present  question,  is 
not  Ireland  receiving  full  justice  and  will  not  Home 
Rule  stay  this  progress  and  endanger  England?  Is 
not  the  Union  real  and  does  it  not  hold  a  grand  future 
for  Ireland?  You  must  see  that  there  is  no  finality  in 
Home  Rule  and  that  it  settles  no  essential  question  of 
dispute,  but  awakens  her  bloody  past  with  tenfold  in- 
tensity. That  sentiment  which  repealed  the  Penal 
Laws,  enfranchised  the  Catholics,  passed  the  Educa- 
tional Act,  granted  Land  Reform,  and  gives  full  and 
equal  justice,  is  ready  and  willing  to  remove  any  abuse 
or  grant  any  reform  that  would  redound  to  the  pros- 


122  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

parity  of  Ireland.  England  granted  three  reforms  to 
Ireland  when  she  saw  her  statesmen  insulted,  her  par- 
liament degraded,  her  laws  broken,  and  her  existence 
threatened,  proving  that  her  heart  might  be  won  over 
and  her  affections  enlisted  with  her  interests  in  support 
of  the  unity,  solidity,  and  prosperity  of  the  British 
Empire. 

Whatever  may  be  the  historic  injuries,  the  imaginary 
wrongs,  the  sentimental  longings  for  a  free  country,  the 
final  result  towards  the  uplifting  of  man  has  been  far 
greater  coming  from  the  British  Empire,  controlled  by 
the  noblest  and  freest  race,  carrying  its  institutions,  its 
religion,  and  its  life  into  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
globe,  and  uniting  them  with  the  common  cord  of  in- 
terest and  the  common  chain  of  destiny  around  the 
"Sea-girt  Isle"  of  Great  Britain,  and  building  there  the 
grandest  fortress  of  man  and  the  noblest  monument  to 
God  that  the  world  has  seen,  far  greater  than  could  be 
coming  from  atoms  separate  and  divided ;  and  in  no 
small  measure  the  destiny  of  man  depends  upon  the 
undivided  strength  and  the  unimpaired  vigor  of  that 
engine  for  man  and  that  agent  of  God. 

SECOND  SPEECH. 

Numerous  and  sore  have  been  Ireland's  ills.  In  the 
early  warlike  history  of  Great  Britain  when  she  was 
building  her  nationality,  struggling  for  liberty,  and 
contending  for  a  pure  religion,  when  overrun  by  con- 
quering races  and  torn  asunder  by  rebellious  factions, 
there  were  perpetrated  crimes  too  black  for  my  apol- 
ogy. We  will  not  defend  the  conquests  of  Ireland, 
though  willed  by  her  clergy  and  rendered  possible 
by  her  warring  chiefs,  and  though  England  was  con- 
quered, too.     We  will  not  defend  the  Penal  Laws  and 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  123 

Catholic  disfranchisement,  though  England  suffered 
them  likewise.  We  will  not  defend  the  means  of  the 
Union,  though  rendered  necessary  as  a  means  of  self- 
protection,  and  though  carried  by  Irish  corruption  and 
confirmed  by  the  following  Irish  election. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  justify  England's  conduct  in 
the  past,  though  provoked  by  Irish  hostility  and  sec- 
onded by  Irish  treachery.  It  is  not  ours  to  discuss  the 
present  by  the  lurid  glare  of  past  revolution.  But  it  is 
a  condition  that  concerns  us,  and  let  us  free  ourselves 
of  the  eternal  bondage  of  the  past  and  in  the  light  of 
today  discuss  a  question  of  today. 

We  are  not  discussing  the  details  of  Gladstone's 
scheme,  nor  the  theory  of  any  man,  but  the  advisability 
of  Home  Rule.  The  term  is  rather  vague,  but  we 
mean  that  Ireland  is  to  have  control  of  her  local  af- 
fairs by  means  of  her  own  Parliament,  but  is  to  remain 
subject  to  the  Imperial  Parliament,  in  which  she  is  not 
to  be  represented,  in  all  Foreign,  Colonial,  and  Fiscal 
matters.  Gladstone  and  the  English  claim  that  the 
veto  power  on  certain  lines  of  legislation  should  be 
reserved  to  the  Crown,  or  virtually  to  the  House  of 
Commons ;  but  Parnell  and  the  Irish  resent  it  and 
claim  that  Gladstone's  scheme  was  not  sufficient.  But 
both  agree  that  in  case  of  any  abuse  of  her  power  the 
Government  reserves  the  right  to  interfere  by  force  of 
arms,  if  necessary. 

Any  arrangement  between  the  local  and  Imperial 
government,  granting  that  it  should  be  as  clearly  de- 
fined as  that  of  our  dual  system  of  government,  must 
have  its  dangers.  Take  the  case  of  the  New  Orleans 
Massacre.  Under  our  Constitution  that  is  purely  a 
State  affair,  and  the  national  government  has  no  right 
to  interfere;  but  Italy  looks  to  the  United  States  for 


124  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

redress,  and  we  have  the  possibiHty  of  war  because  of 
the  national  government's  inabihty  to  act.  Similar 
cases  have  come  very  near  embroiling  us  in  foreign 
war,  and  notably  that  of  the  Caroline  with  England. 
Suppose  Ireland  a  State  with  her  turbulence  and 
hatred  of  England;  an  Irish  mob  might  convulse 
the  Empire  in  war.  But  our  dual  system  of  govern- 
ment is  not  applicable  to  England  and  Ireland,  for  they 
can  have  no  elaborately  refined  system  of  checks  and 
balances.  The  local  government  has  no  representa- 
tives in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  There  are  but  two 
parties,  and  they  are  hostile.  Under  their  constitu- 
tional system  the  legislature  is  the  government.  Two 
legislatures  under  the  same  crown  would  be  two  gov- 
ernments, which  in  their  present  temper  would  almost 
certainly  take  different  courses  in  peace  and  war,  and 
the  golden  link  of  royalty  would  snap  at  the  least  fric- 
tion. 

There  are  for  all  practical  purposes  two  Irelands,  a 
Northeast  and  a  Southwest  Ireland;  the  one  English, 
Protestant,  and  industrial;  the  other  Irish,  Catholic, 
and  agricultural.  In  the  Northeast  the  population  is 
English  and  Scotch-Irish  and  over  90  per  cent  Protes- 
tant ;  in  the  Southwest  one-third  are  pure  Irish  in  race 
and  speech,  and  the  remainder  are  three-fourths  Irish, 
called  Anglo-Irish,  and  are  95  per  cent  Catholic.  The 
industrial  section  comprises  about  one-third  of  the  area 
and  population,  and  considerably  over  one-third  of  the 
wealth  of  the  whole  island. 

According  to  population  the  commercial  is  three 
times  and  the  industrial  class  fifteen  times  as  great  in 
the  East  as  in  the  West.  Statistics  show  that  the  in- 
habitants of  the  West  work  but  one-fifth  of  their  time; 
but  in  the  East  the  dockyards  of  Belfast,  the  third  port 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  125 

in  the  Kingdom,  vie  with  those  of  the  Clyde,  and  the 
foundries  and  Hnen  manufactures  of  all  Ulster  rival 
those  of  Liverpool  and  Glasgow.  In  the  West  the 
people  are  content  to  multiply  in  such  poverty  that  the 
failure  of  a  single  crop  brings  famine,  grim  and 
ghastly;  but  in  the  East  the  ''clamorous  iron  of  toil" 
and  the  "play  of  the  hammer  on  the  rivet"  are  the  music 
of  the  early  morn  and  quiet  eve.  The  increase  of  pop- 
ulation is  twice  as  great  in  the  West  as  in  the  East,  and 
were  it  not  for  emigration  the  horrors  of  '46  and  '47 
would  be  constant.  After  forty  years  of  equal  edu- 
cational advantages,  illiteracy  is  45  per  cent  and  crime 
35  per  cent  greater  in  the  West  than  in  the  East.  The 
reduction  on  rents  has  been  greater  in  the  West  than 
in  the  East.  But  in  the  condition  and  character  of  the 
two  peoples  mentally,  morally,  and  physically,  ratios 
fail  to  express  the  glaring  contrast.  It  is  bad  enough 
for  this  primitive  Celt,  this  priest-ridden  peasantry, 
this  "waste  and  desert  place,"  this  "dark  and  compara- 
tively uncivilized  region,"  to  handicap  the  acquired 
intelligence  and  business  enterprise  of  Protestant  Ul- 
ster in  the  Imperial  Parliament ;  but  in  an  Irish  Assem- 
bly what  would  be  the  result?  Men  of  the  South,  who 
know  the  Negro  Question,  men  of  the  South,  who  rec- 
ognize the  necessity  of  white  supremacy,  see  the  quin- 
tessence of  the  issue,  and  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
"Emerald  Isle"  recognize  an  exact  parallel  to  the  post- 
bellum  South.  The  claims  of  the  majority  to  rule  are 
strong,  but  the  fitness  and  character  of  that  majority 
should  not  pass  unheeded. 

Does  Ireland  want  Home  Rule?  All  the  Northeast 
section,  numbering  one-third  of  her  population  and 
over  one-half  of  her  intelligence  and  thrift,  numbering 
in  their  ranks  the  descendants  of  Grattan's  parliament 


126  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

and  O'Connell's  faithful  followers,  bitterly  oppose  it. 
If  her  representatives  were  elected  upon  the  Home 
Rule  issue,  and  if  her  representatives  were  elected  pro- 
portionately (for  an  Ulster  member  represents  almost 
twice  as  many  electors  as  a  member  from  the  West), 
and  if  intimidation  and  crime  were  suppressed, and  were 
it  not  for  American  Fenianism,  a  majority  of  her  votes 
would  be  cast  for  the  Union.  John  Bright  said  that 
44  of  her  85  members  who  voted  for  Home  Rule  sat 
in  Parliament  on  American  boodle.  All  Irishmen  who 
are  capable  of  self-government  do  not  desire  Home 
Rule,  and  those  who  do  desire  it,  desire  it  less  than  the 
approval  of  their  respective  chiefs. 

What  of  Catholicism?  Gladstone  says:  "A  convert 
to  Rome  must  sacrifice  his  moral  and  mental  freedom 
and  place  his  loyalty  and  civil  duty  at  the  mercy  of 
another."  With  Home  Rule  any  attempt  by  the  Cath- 
olic majority,  bound  in  the  vice  of  Roman  servility 
and  gangrened  by  religious  rancor,  to  establish  their 
church  or  subsidize  any  of  their  munerous  religious 
fraternities  there,  as  they  do  elsewhere,  would  be  met 
with  armed  resistance  backed  by  England's  aid.  Of 
the  550  Protestant  members  of  Ulster,  Ireland,  of 
whom  538  were  followers  of  Gladstone  before  he  allied 
himself  with  Parnell,  thereafter  only  three  gave  him 
their  support.  Rome  is  politic  enough  to  use  Pro- 
testant leaders  in  a  Protestant  Parliament,  but  when 
her  power  becomes  absolute  who  knows  the  result  ? 

If  there  were  no  other  consideration,  the  character 
of  the  Nationalist  party  forbids  Home  Rule.  They 
opposed  the  Land  Bill,  giving  Fixity  of  Tenure,  Free 
Sale,  and  Fair  Rent;  they  challenged  the  sincerity  of 
the  Government,  and  during  its  progress  relaxed  none 
of  their  efiforts  to  damage  its  reception,  and  after  its 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  127 

final  inscription  upon  the  statute  books  are  straining 
every  nerve  to  insure  its  failure  and  to  discredit  its 
operation  with  the  people  of  Ireland.  Acting  on  the 
advice  of  its  leaders,  whose  measures  in  Parliament 
have  been  obstruction,  it  has  not  scrupled  to  use  vitriol 
and  dynamite,  the  midnight  brigand  and  the  skulking 
assassin  as  the  means  of  usurping  the  Queen's  govern- 
ment, paralyzing  land  reform  and  rendering  courts  of 
justice  impossible.  This  guerilla  warfare  under  oath- 
bound  secret  societies,  the  Land  League  and  National 
League,  stimulating  agrarian  discontent  to  add  fuel  to 
political  revolution,  using  the  boycott  to  intimidate  the 
weak  and  Fenianism  to  corrupt  the  avaricious,  has  se- 
cured a  majority  and  now  they  will  call  it  the  voice  of 
Ireland  and  the  voice  of  God.  These  leaders,  while 
rendering  their  followers  as  destitute  of  moral  sense 
as  the  Bushmen  of  Africa,  have  banished  capital,  pro- 
moted idleness  and  unthrift,  raised  expectations  that 
are  doomed  to  disappointment,  and  have  suggested  no 
scheme  of  permanent  improvement  except  confiscation, 
and  have  not  taken  under  their  patronage  a  single 
work  of  public  usefulness  or  aided  the  revival  of  a  sin- 
gle manufacturing  industry.  With  this  condition  the 
loyal  elements  of  Ireland  appealed  to  England  for  a 
bill  to  protect  life  and  property.  It  was  passed  tem- 
porarily under  Gladstone's  leadership;  it  restored  or- 
der, it  set  up  law,  and  was  enforced  by  a  police  which 
was  mainly  Irish  and  Was  supported  by  England  and 
was  more  orderly  than  that  of  England  herself.  And 
this  they  call  Coercion.  It  was  a  removal  of  the  real 
coercion,  the  Land  League  and  American  Fenianism. 
It  was  an  act  of  humanity,  an  act  of  necessity,  an  act 
of  justice. 

Should  this  savage  band  of  Celts,  whose  footprints 


128  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

have  been  stained  with  blood  and  marked  by  ten  thou- 
sand agrarian  crimes,  whose  methods  have  been  ob- 
struction, dynamite,  and  blood,  and  whose  present  issue 
is  a  shame  to  a  civilized  community,  on  whose  sabres 
flash  vengeance  to  England,  on  whose  crest,  engraven 
by  seven  centuries  of  attempt,  is  traced  the  indelible 
truism,  "Incapable  of  Self-Government,"  and  on  whose 
banner,  sketched  by  lurid  hand,  gleams  that  awful 
motto :  "The  total  independence  of  Ireland  and  the 
annihilation  of  England  by  any  means  whatever,  is 
our  goal."  Shall  this  band,  then,  depraved  and  dan- 
gerous, be  entrusted  with  the  safety,  the  prosperity, 
and  the  liberties  of  five  millions  of  the  Queen's  sub- 
jects, two  millions  of  whom  are  good  and  loyal,  and 
who  bitterly  oppose  Home  Rule? 


THE  EASTERN  QUESTION 

At  the  close  of  the  Russo-Turkish  War,  when  Rus- 
sia, alone  and  unaided,  had  liberated  the  Christian 
Provinces  from  Turkish  domination,  she  stipulated 
with  Turkey  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano,  securing 
peace  and  liberty  to  the  Christians ;  but  England  forced 
her  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  European  powers 
at  the  Congress  of  Berlin  on  the  ground  that  the 
"concerns  of  Turkey  are  the  common  concerns  of  the 
powers  of  Europe  acting  in  concert." 

Having  asserted  this  to  the  world,  she  secretly  and 
in  the  darkness  of  night,  while  the  Congress  of  Berlin 
was  still  sitting  to  determine  these  matters  of  common 
interest,  while  her  ministers  at  this  Congress  were  as- 
serting that  unless  this  principle  was  acted  upon,  they 
would  go  to  war  with  the  six  million  pounds  which 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  129 

Parliament  had  voted  for  that  purpose — she  at  the 
same  time  concluded  a  separate  agreement  with  Turkey 
under  which  those  matters  of  European  jurisdiction 
affecting  Turkey  were  coolly  transferred  to  English 
jurisdiction  and  the  whole  matter  was  sealed  with  the 
bribe  of  the  possession  and  administration  of  the  Island 
of  Cyprus.  Forbidding  to  Russia  the  right  to  nego- 
tiate with  Turkey  alone  and  deceiving  the  nations  of 
Europe,  she  stealthily  took  it  herself.  Then  came 
Great  Britain  to  guarantee  Turkish  supremacy.  In 
this  act  is  selfishness,  hypocrisy,  and  injustice;  how 
can  any  good  thing  come  from  a  source  so  corrupt  and 
vile? 

We  have  mainly  to  do  with  European  Turkey,  which 
numbers  less  than  six  million  people,  three-fourths  of 
whom  are  Greeks,  Armenians,  Slavs — professing  Chris- 
tianity mainly  of  the  Greek  Church,  but  some  of  the 
Roman  Church.  The  professors  of  Islamism  number 
less  than  one- fourth  in  Europe  and  two-fifths  in  Asia, 
and  the  Turks  or  ruling  class  include  less  than  one- 
twentieth  of  the  whole  population  of  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire. (These  figures  are  taken  from  Freeman  and  a 
writer  in  the  Political  Science  Encyclopedia.) 

The  interests  of  England  and  the  interests  of  the 
English  mean  the  same  thing;  the  interests  of  France 
and  the  interests  of  the  French  mean  the  same  thing; 
but  the  interests  of  Turkey  and  the  interests  of  the 
Turks  are  two  opposite  things.  Turkey  does  not  mean 
that  the  people  of  the  land  are  Turks,  but  that  they  are 
held  in  bondage  by  the  Turks.  The  Turks  are  alien  in 
race,  in  language,  in  religion,  in  historic  memories,  and 
in  the  commonest  ideals  and  feelings  from  every  na- 
tion of  Europe  and  from  the  great  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Turkey.     The  Sultan,  in  whom  are  vested  all 


130  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

civil,  military,  and  religious  powers,  is  not  a  national 
sovereign,  but  the  despotic  chief  of  foreign  oppressors. 
He  gives  his  people  no  protection ;  therefore,  they  owe 
him  no  allegiance.  He  has  no  right  over  them  unless 
there  be  right  in  brute  force.  They  owe  him  no  duties 
except  the  duty  of  ridding  themselves  of  him  as  soon 
as  possible.  Whatever  is  good  for  the  Turks  is  bad 
for  Turkey  and  its  people. 

When  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  the  Angles  and  Sax- 
ons, the  Gauls  and  Normans,  even  the  Bulgarians  and 
Hungarians  spread  desolation  and  death  in  their  track, 
they  mingled  the  strains  of  their  blood  with  the  blood 
of  conquered  races,  and  from  the  charred  and  smoking 
waste  builded  a  nobler  and  grander  civilization;  but 
the  Turks,  after  conquering  the  classic  sites  of  Europe 
with  their  iconoclastic  rage,  without  amalgamation  or 
modification  by  environment,  after  five  hundred  years 
of  corrupt  and  despotic  rule,  without  creating  one  bond 
of  national  interest  or  feeling,  still  rule  as  an  Eastern 
and  Mohammedan  stranger  in  the  home  of  a  Western 
and  Christian  people. 

"Byzantines  boast  that  on  the  clod 
Where  once  their  Sultan's  horse  has  trod, 
Grows  neither  grass,  nor  shrub,  nor  tree." 

Bare  desolation  and  utter  ruin  are  the  lasting  memo- 
rials of  the  Moslem  power  on  the  once  fertile  shore  of 
the  Levant.  His  government  is  not  misgovernment 
— it  is  no  government;  it  is  organized  brigandage 
which  levies  its  remorseless  blackmail  on  the  traveling 
public.  It  is  systematic  oppression  and  plunder;  it  is 
a  denial  of  the  commonest  rights  of  man.  The  path 
of  foulest  shame  is  the  surest  path  to  power;  and  the 
promises  of  the  Sultan  are  made  only  to  be  broken. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  131 

Their  taxation  is  unjust,  their  finances  bankrupt,  their 
coinage  debased,  their  industry  dead.  Their  whole 
civil  and  penal  legislation,  as  well  as  the  financial  and 
commercial  polity,  is  directly  opposed  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  three-fourths  of  the  people. 

The  Turk  is  armed,  the  Christian  is  unarmed;  the 
Turk  rules,  the  Christian  has  to  obey ;  the  Turk  sits  in 
the  so-called  seats  of  justice  and  refuses  to  take  the 
evidence  of  the  Christian  against  the  meanest  Turkish 
criminal;  the  Christian's  life  and  property,  honor  and 
family  are  at  the  mercy  of  every  Turk  to  do  with  them 
as  he  chooses.  Turkey  has  repeatedly  violated  the 
laws  of  nations,  thus  justly  incurring  the  penalty  of 
dismemberment. 

As  the  centuries  have  gone  by  governmental  policies 
have  been  modified  and  human  rights  recognized ;  but 
for  five  hundred  years  the  Turkish  Government  has 
become  worse  and  worse.  Its  spirit  of  conquest  and 
fire  of  enthusiasm  dead,  internal  corruption  and 
wholesale  oppression  have  gained  ground.  It  has  run 
its  cycle  of  rise,  perfection,  and  decline;  and  its  naked 
trunk  now  only  cumbers  the  ground  of  the  earlier 
seats  of  Christianity  and  civilization  with  the  broken 
fragments  of  an  infidel  and  semi-barbarous  empire. 
This  stagnant,  corrupt,  and  oppressive  outer  shell  of 
Turkey,  incasing  three-fourths  of  the  people,  can 
never  be  reformed.  Some  Christian  governments  are 
bad,  very  bad;  but  law,  order,  and  justice  are  never 
quite  forgotten,  and  the  worst  of  them  are  capable  of 
reform.  But  the  whole  history  and  character  of  Tur- 
key is  against  reform.  She  has  made  promises  and 
contracts  to  reform,  but  only  to  be  broken.  Turkey, 
while  ruled  by  the  Mohammedan  Turk,  can  never  be  a 
national  government;  his  religion  commands  him  to 


132  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

conquer  and  reduce  the  Christian  to  bondage,  and  to- 
day the  chief  article  of  traffic  in  the  Turkish  Bazaar 
are  human  beings,  and  the  house  of  nearly  every  Turk 
has  its  Christian  slaves.  But  where  the  Christians  rule 
the  government  can  be  national  without  oppressing 
the  Mohammedans,  as  is  the  case  under  Great  Britain 
and  Russia.  Upon  the  family  as  a  unit  of  society 
rests  individual  liberty  and  social  order,  domestic  fe- 
licity and  virtue,  national  freedom  and  success ;  but 
where  its  head  waters  are  poisoned  by  the  sensualism 
of  the  Harem,  the  distortion  of  human  slavery,  and  the 
blighting  curse  of  polygamy,  there  is  no  hope  of  re- 
form. In  this  age  of  rapid  progress  there  is  no  hope 
for  a  State  whose  governmental  and  social  system  are 
taken  directly  from  that  immutable  standard  of  fanati- 
cism, the  Koran.  It  is  their  Bible,  their  statute  book, 
their  encyclopedia,  the  manual  of  their  life  and  learn- 
ing. The  theologian,  the  statesman,  the  lawyer,  the 
physician,  the  warrior,  the  historian,  the  poet,  the  cap- 
tain of  the  football  team,  and  the  dancing  master — all 
must  shape  their  creeds  and  actions  after  some  cant, 
cast-iron  phrase  which  was  dictated  twelve  hundred 
years  ago  to  a  nornjadic  people  by  a  fanatical  camel- 
driver  to  be  scratched  on  a  mutton  bone.  The  cere- 
monies of  religion  and  the  despotism  of  government 
have  crushed  the  life  and  enthusiasm  out  of  this 
people. 

Since  that  barbaric  wave  of  Saracen  conquest  broke, 
ebbed,  and  fled,  Turkey  'has  lost  over  three-fourths 
of  her  land  and  people ;  and  every  individual  and  every 
State  freed  from  Turkish  rule  has  become  more  pro- 
gressive and  more  free.  The  high  tide  of  religious 
fervor  and  the  ground  swell  of  self-government  would 
sweep  that  ruling  twentieth  from  the  embattled  ram- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  133 

parts  of  the  Bosphorus  did  not  the  strong  arm  of  Eng- 
land interpose.  Other  conquerors  have  sooner  or  later 
made  their  conquests  lawful  by  giving  the  people  a 
government;  but  the  Turk  came  as  a  robber,  and  a 
robber  he  remains ;  five  hundred  years  of  rule  by  force 
and  violence  gives  him  no  right  to  respect  or  protection. 

England  is  maintaining  this  condition  not  only 
against  every  outside  assailant  for  whatever  cause,  but 
against  three-fourths  of  the  people  themselves,  thus 
destroying  every  noble  stimulus  and  increasing  the 
habitual  misgovernment.  No  matter  how  bad  that 
government,  no  matter  how  great  may  be  the  growth 
of  virtue,  liberty,  and  intelligence  among  the  people, 
no  matter  how  great  may  be  the  disproportion  in  num- 
ber between  the  rulers  and  the  ruled,  England  is  bound 
to  maintain  this  foreign  despotism  of  one-twentieth  of 
the  people  intact.  Every  patriot,  a  Tell,  a  Mazzini,  a 
Riego,  a  Rienzi,  a  Kossuth,  a  Bolivar,  a  Wasihington, 
in  struggling  for  his  country  must  strike,  not  upon  a 
Turkish  chain,  for  that  of  itself  is  a  chain  of  sand,  but 
upon  England's  mammoth  power. 

England  may  deny  it,  but  in  fact,  she  is  acting  upon 
the  principle  laid  down  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  that  "she 
has  no  right  to  meddle  with  the  relations  of  the  Sultan 
with  his  subjects  or  with  the  interior  administration 
of  hi?  Empire."  That  is  to  say,  the  Turk  may  rob, 
kill,  mutilate,  do  what  he  pleases;  she  will  not  hinder 
him,  but  will  send  men  and  money  to  crush  every  rebel- 
lion and  rout  every  attack  made  against  his  govern- 
ment. And  this  she  has  done  repeatedly ;  she  has  pre- 
vented the  English  army  from  saving  old  men,  women, 
and  children  from  the  rage  of  the  Turk,  and  the  "Bul- 
garian massacre,"  in  which  15,000  persons  were  butch- 
ered, she  calls  a  "mere  incident,"  with  which  she  has 


134  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

nothing  to  do.  In  her  eyes  pecuniary  interests  and 
abstrvise  political  policies  are  above  the  interests  of 
humanity  and  the  rights  of  human  nature.  We  are 
not  contending  for  the  dismemberment  of  Turkey,  or 
its  annexation  to  Russia.  If  Turkey's  nationality  is 
necessary  for  England's  interests  and  the  peace  of  the 
world,  let  this  Christian  majority  rule,  and  let  England 
maintain  that  supremacy  if  she  chooses,  or  let  her  take 
the  government  in  hand  as  she  has  done  that  of  Eg>'pt. 
The  Turk  need  not  be  expelled  or  exterminated ;  let 
him  remain  on  a  common  footing,  but  he  must  not  gov- 
ern or  oppress  the  majority. 

Gladstone  says  that  the  only  way  to  do  any  perma- 
nent good  for  the  Christian  provinces  is  to  turn  the 
Turkish  officials,  "bag  and  baggage,"  out  of  them.  .  .  . 

Wheaton  says :  "The  principle  of  interference  is 
authorized  where  the  general  interests  of  humanity 
are  infringed  by  the  excesses  of  a  barbarous  and  des- 
potic government."  And  he  gives  as  an  instance  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  Speaking  of  the  reasons  for  the 
interference  in  favor  of  the  Greeks,  he  says:  "Its 
principle  was  fully  justified  by  the  great  paramount 
law  of  self-preservation.  'Whatever  a  nation  may 
lawfully  defend  for  itself,  it  may  defend  for  another 
people  if  called  upon  to  interpose.'  Interference  may 
therefore  be  safely  rested  upon  this  ground  alone." 
This  principle  once  asserted  and  acted  upon  by  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Russia,  in  the  case  of  Turkey,  is 
still  recognized  and  studiously  observed  by  Russia, 
France,  and  the  liberal,  progressive,  and  conscientious 
element  in  England  herself.  These  four  million  Chris- 
tians in  Europe,  three-fourths  of  the  people,  who  re- 
ceive no  protection  from  their  foreign  oppressors,  and 
therefore  owe  no  allegiance,  who  are  native  in  that 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  135 

country  and  struggling  like  their  neighbors  for  inde- 
pendence, have  by  this  law,  the  rule  of  the  majority 
and  the  rights  of  human  nature,  a  sacred  right  to 
nationality  and  self-government;  and  because  of  geo- 
graphical position,  community  of  religious  feeling  and 
to  some  extent  of  race,  these  people,  having  been  re- 
fused and  bitterly  opposed  by  England,  have  invited 
their  sympathizers  from  the  North  to  aid  them. 
Therefore  Russia  is  justified  in  attempting  to  liberate 
this  people.  If  these  sufferers  by  themselves  are,  with 
the  aid  of  Russia,  justified  in  throwing  off  the  Turkish 
yoke,  then  England  cannot  be  justified  in  maintaining 
Turkish  supremacy.  There  cannot  be  two  rights  di- 
rectly opposite ;  there  is  but  one  right,  and  that  right  is 
with  the  suffering  majority. 


A  BRIEF  REVIEW  OF  SCHOLASTICISM. 
HISTORICAL  AND  CRITICAL 

Ancient  Philosophy  may  be  said  to  have  disappeared 
in  529  A.  D.,  when  the  Athenian  schools  were  closed 
by  order  of  Justinian. 

Hitherto  Christian  thought  had  been  confined  to  the 
systematical  arrangement  of  theological  dogmas.  A 
few  theologians,  however,  as  Augustine,  had  brought 
in  elements  of  philosophical  discussion. 

After  the  settlement  of  the  barbarian  races,  their 
conversion  to  Christianity,  and  the  organization  of  the 
Western  Empire  under  Charlemagne,  that  able  mon- 
arch, desirous  of  attracting  scholars  from  Ireland  and 
Britain  to  his  cause,  in  787  A.  D.,  decreed  the  estab- 
lishment of  schools  in  connection  with  every  abbey  of 
his  realms. 


136  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Schools  were  established  and  flourished  at  the  Pal- 
ace at  Lyons,  Orleans,  St.  Denis,  Rheims,  Paris,  Tours 
and  various  other  places ;  these  became  the  centers  of 
Medieval  learning  and  gave  the  name  of  scholasticism 
to  the  world. 

The  educational  curriculum  of  the  Middle  Ages 
consisted  of  the  Trivium  of  arts:  grammar,  logic  and, 
rhetoric,  and  the  Ouadrivium  of  the  sciences :  arithme- 
tic, geometry,  astronomy,  and  music.  Logic,  however, 
soon  became  the  one  absorbing  study. 

The  limits  of  Scholasticism  are  confined  to  the 
period  running  from  the  ninth  to  the  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, though  most  active  during  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth. Realism  was  the  first  to  gain  importance,  but 
the  contest  closed  with  conceptualism  in  the  lead. 
During  the  Thirteenth  Century  the  scholastics  acquired 
a  knowledge  of  Greek;  and  gained  access  to  many 
philosophical  writings  before  unknown,  chief  of  which 
were  those  of  Aristotle.  The  discussion  of  the  scho- 
lastics long  remained  unnoticed  in  the  obscurity  of  the 
schools,  having  no  connection  with  questions  of  religion 
and  politics.  It  was  not  till  the  Eleventh  Century  that 
Nominalism  entered  the  lists  of  scholasticism.  By  the 
middle  of  the  Twelfth  Century,  Logic  had  lost  most  of 
its  interest,  and  the  historical  compilers  superseded 
philosophers  and  theologians. 

Strictly  speaking,  Mediaeval  thought  is  confined  to 
the  logic  of  Aristotle  and  the  theology  of  the  church. 
Scholasticism  begins  in  discussion  of  Aristotle's  logic; 
it  soon  applies  its  logical  methods  and  distinction  to  its 
treatment  of  theolog>\  But  the  conflict  did  not  origi- 
nate in  this  attempt  of  logic  to  extend  its  system  to  the- 
ology so  much  as  the  belief  that  scholasticism  absorbed 
time  and  ability  which  might  be  better  employed  in 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  137 

the  service  of  the  church.  It  was  the  excitement  at- 
tending this  attempt  to  apply  logical  methods  to  theo- 
logical mysteries,  and  the  heterodox  conclusion  which 
were  its  earliest  fruits,  that  gave  scholasticism  its 
prime  importance  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  inestimable  result  of  this  extension  of  logical 
method  to  theology  was  that  the  systems  of  the  church 
were  rationalized  or  Aristotle's  logic  was  Christianized. 

The  scholastics  were  ingenious  commentators  and 
acute  critics  of  Aristotle;  but  they  did  not  dare  go 
beyond  the  limits  of  his  systems  or  investigate  nature 
for  themselves.  Realism  was  thus  subordinated  to 
faith. 

The  question  which  agitated  alike  the  universities, 
the  church,  and  the  politics  of  Europe  for  centuries; 
which  in  varying  forms  was  waged  both  with  the  pen 
and  sword ;  and  which  awaiting  any  final  settlement, 
is  still  earnestly  debated  by  dialecticians  and  scientists 
— concerns  the  nature  of  genera  and  species  and  their 
relation  to  the  individual. 

Realism  and  Nominalism,  the  two  opposing  theo- 
ries, express  at  bottom  "the  radical  divergence  of  pan- 
theism and  individualism — the  two  extremes  between 
which  philosophy  seems  pendulum-wise  to  oscillate, 
and  which  may  be  said  still  to  avoid  their  perfect  recon- 
cihation."  The  text  of  this  discussion,  at  first  a  ques- 
tion of  logic,  is  found  in  the  Introduction  to  Aristotle 
by  Porphyry,  a  Neoplatonist.  This  text  dealt  with  the 
nature  of  genera  and  species. 

Roscelinus,  the  founder  of  Nominalism  proper,  in 
propounding  the  tritheistic  view  of  the  Trinity  as  a 
natural  result  of  his  theory,  whereby  unless  we  say  the 
three  Persons  are  one  thing,  in  which  case  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost  must  have  been  incarnate  as  one — 


138  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

then  we  ought  to  speak  of  three  Gods — caused  Real- 
ism to  take  shape  according  to  the  theories  of  Anselm 
and  Wilham  of  Champeaux.  Hereafter  the  question 
at  issue  is  more  accurately  defined.  Because  of  the 
heretical  conclusion  involved  in  Nominalism  as  set 
forth  by  Roscelinus,  Realism  becomes  recognized  for 
several  centuries  as  the  orthodox  creed  of  Philosophy. 
Along  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incar- 
nation that  of  Transubstantiation  and  the  Eucharist 
were  much  discussed.  Some  sects  as  Unitarians,  etc., 
and  many  theological  doctrines  owe  their  origin  to  this 
period  of  dispute. 

The  difficulties  of  Realism,  brought  out  by  an  ex- 
plicit statement  and  by  the  criticism  of  Abelard,  led  to 
numerous  attempts  to  reach  some  more  satisfactory 
formula.  Thereupon  the  theory  of  "Indifference" 
sprung  up — this  marked  a  gain  for  Nominalism,  as  it 
surrenders  the  substantiality  of  universals.  At  this 
time  there  were  about  thirteen  diifferent  views  on  the 
question  of  universals — in  this  list  are  all  shades  of 
opinion,  from  extreme  Nominalism  to  extreme  Real- 
ism. This  seems  to  show  that  there  was  no  hard  line 
of  division  between  the  disputants  for  any  length  of 
time.  It  also  suggests  the  belief  that  there  was  a 
grain  of  truth  in  all  the  beliefs,  but  much  error  in  all, 
as  well. 

Abelard,  successively  the  pupil  of  Roscelinus  and  Wil- 
liam of  Champeaux,  and  a  very  able  dialectician,  came 
forward  as  a  severe  critic  of  his  masters'  doctrines. 
His  views  were  those  commonly  known  as  Conceptual- 
ism,  or  a  via  media  between  the  extremists  of  either 
side.  He  maintained  that  genera  and  species  which 
are  predicated  of  individual  subjects  are  not  things  or 
substances,  and  that  this  is  true  however  real  the  facts 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  139 

may  be  which  are  designated  by  the  specific  and  generic 
names.  Or,  as  one  puts  it,  "Only  individuals  exist, 
and  in  the  individual  nothing  but  the  individual."  By 
laying  stress  not  on  the  mere  zvord,  but  on  the  thought 
which  the  word  is  intended  to  convey,  he  rescued  his 
theory  from  the  fortunes  of  extreme  Nominalism  and 
gained  for  it  that  of  Conceptualism.  He  combated 
the  Tritheism  of  Roscelinus,  contending  that  the  three 
Persons  were  three  aspects  or  attributes  of  the  Divine 
Being.  His  opinions  w^ere  held  by  the  more  strict 
churchmen  as  the  rash  intrusion  of  an  over-confident 
Rationalism.  The  Rationalistic  tendency  was  identi- 
fied with  the  Nominalists  because  they  were  the  im- 
movable. 

Early  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  the  doctrinal  ortho- 
doxy became  disturbed  and  many  mystical  heresies 
sprang  up — all  due  to  the  introduction  of  new  philo- 
sophical writings  through  the  Arabs.  These  called 
forth  the  condemnation  of  several  provincial  councils; 
but  a  closer  study  of  Aristotle  by  Albertus  ]\Iagnus, 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  others,  sufficed  to  replace  him  in 
a  position  of  unquestionable  supremacy. 

The  Mendicant  friars  first,  and  then  the  Dominicans, 
now  came  forward  as  the  chief  teachers  of  Christian 
learning  and  faith.  About  the  close  of  this  century 
the  intellectual  horizon  was  extended.  The  nature  of 
universals  was  no  longer  discussed  so  much  from  a 
logical  or  metaphysical  point  of  view,  but  becomes 
more  of  a  psychological  question.  Other  questions,  as 
the  elements  of  substance,  the  principle  of  individual- 
ism, the  origin  of  ideas,  etc.,  now  claim  attention. 
Albertus  and  xA.quinas  discussed  the  question  of  univer- 
sals, but  it  was  no  longer  the  center  of  speculation; 


140  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

its  form  now  being  that  of  the  principle  of  individu- 
alism. 

The  great  opponent  and  critic  of  Aquinas  was  Duns 
Scotus,  who  had  less  confidence  in  the  power  of  reason 
than  his  opponent.  He  strengthened  Theology  by 
maintaining  that,  the  creation  of  the  world  was  noth- 
ing, the  immiortality  of  the  soul,  etc.,  was  as  capable  of 
philosophical  proof.  Thus  unconsciously  his  criti- 
cism hastened  disintegration  by  partially  restoring  the 
dualism  between  faith  and  reason  which  scholasticism 
had  labored  so  hard  to  destroy.  They  differed  over 
the  freedom  of  the  will — Aquinas  tending  towards 
Rationalism,  Scotus  towards  Skepticism.  Scotus  also 
attacked  the  Thomist  doctrine  of  individualism. 

So  bitter  and  extensive  was  this  rivalry  that  at  the 
opening  of  the  Fourteenth  Century  the  Thomists  and 
Scotists  divided  the  philosophical  and  theological  world 
between  them.  The  disappearance  of  scholasticism  is 
preceded  by  the  temporary  revival  of  Nominalism  in 
a  somewhat  different  form  under  William  of  Occom, 
who  claims  that  everything  that  exists  is  individual 
and  that  this  is  proven  by  the  bare  fact  of  its  exist- 
ence. He  heralded  the  dissolution  of  scholasticism  by 
his  severance  of  philosophy  and  theology — greatly  ex- 
tending the  doctrine  of  Duns  Scotus.  At  first  this 
Nominalistic  tendency  was  limited ;  but  it  soon  spread 
on  all  sides.  The  end  of  scholasticism  came  both  from 
within  and  from  without.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
Fifteenth  Century  mysticism  still  existed  in  Germany; 
but  the  different  characters  and  tongues  of  European 
nations  were  now  beginning  to  assert  their  marked 
individuality;  and  men's  highest  interests  ceased  to  be 
ecclesiastical,  so  the  essence  of  scholasticism,  as  well 
as  its  field  of  activity,  was  gone. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  141 

The  three  principal  doctrines  contained  in  scholasti- 
cism may  be  thus  briefly  stated  : 

1.  Reahsm,  which  originated  with  Plato,  is  the  doc- 
trine that  the  universal  determines  the  individual,  and 
was  expressed  in  the  phrase,  "universalia  ante  rem." 
It  maintained  that  classes,  genera,  species,  etc.,  are 
things,  not  mere  names;  that  in  the  region  of  external 
existence  there  is  a  something  which  corresponds  to 
our  idea  of  man,  horse,  etc. — distinct  from  the  indi- 
viduals John,  William,  and  black  and  white  horse; 
that  the  idea  exists  before  the  individuals,  and  gives 
form  and  shape  to  them.  The  position  of  Realism  as 
stated  by  Plato  is  as  follows :  "The  idea  of  a  thing 
is  that  which  makes  one  of  the  many;  which  presumes 
the  unity  and  integrity  of  its  own  nature  runs  through 
and  mixes  with  things  infinite  in  number ;  and  yet,  how- 
ever multiform  it  may  appear,  is  always  the  same;" 
also  that  of  every  species  there  is  an  archetype  or  ex- 
emplar which  shapes  the  individuals,  and  that  this  idea 
has  existed  from  all  eternity. 

We  fail  to  see  how  all  the  individuals  of  any  class 
can  share  its  one  common  nature ;  for  what  is  unity 
and  incapable  of  division  cannot  be  shared  by  an  indefi- 
nite number  of  individuals.  Our  general  notions  are 
confined  to  individuals  of  which  we  have  knowledge ; 
but  there  could  not  be  the  limits  if  there  were  an  ob- 
jective essence  to  give  form  and  shape  to  the  indi- 
viduals. 

2.  Nominalism,  in  opposition  to  Realism,  contended 
that  the  individual  determined  the  universal ;  and  was 
expressed  in  the  phrase,  "universalia  post  rem."  It 
held  that  the  general  had  no  objective  existence ;  that 
genera,  species,  etc.,  are  names  only;  and  that  the 
name  is  a  common  sign  which  can  be  applied  to  any 


142  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

number  of  images  which  correspond  to  concrete  exam- 
ples which  we  have  seen.  As  to  NominaHsm  as  the 
doctrine  that  there  is  nothing  universal  but  names,  and 
that  we  must  invent  names  for  such  classes  as  we 
choose  to  put  together,  and  consequently  that  Logic  is 
nothing  more  than  simple  addition  and  subtraction  of 
names — we  answer  that  the  truthfulness  or  falsity  of 
propositions  would  then  depend  on  arbitrary  agree- 
ments among  men  about  words.  This  seems  too  ab- 
surd to  admit.  Species  and  genera  exist  in  nature, 
however  dim  may  be  the  distinction,  and  science  is  not 
mere  naming;  nor  is  truth  mere  truth  of  words — jus- 
tice, ferocity,  cruelty,  etc.,  are  something  more  than 
nominal  distinctions ;  here  conscience  and  experience 
have  erected  some  real  distinctions. 

Nominalists  would  say  in  reading  a  book  without 
names  of  individual  objects  (which  is  common  enough) 
that  there  is  nothing  before  the  mind  except  mere 
words.  This  view  seems  absurd  also.  Nominalists 
claim  that  we  cannot  form  general  ideas  as  that  of 
horse,  because  horses  possess  contradictory  attributes, 
as  white,  black,  large,  small,  blind  horses ;  but  these 
attributes  are  not  the  essential  parts.  There  is  more 
in  horses  that  is  common  to  them  all  and  which  enables 
us  to  form  horses  into  a  class,  than  there  is  which  dif- 
fers in  every  individual  horse. 

But  there  is  some  truth  in  Nominalism  when  we  use 
words  for  thoughts ;  or  signs  in  Geometry  and  Algebra 
to  represent  all  possible  signs  of  that  particular  kind. 
This  power  is  often  very  valuable  as  a  depository  for 
thought. 

3.  Conceptualism,  or  the  view  held  by  Aristotle, 
maintains  that  each  exists  in  the  other  and  is  thus  ex- 
pressed, "universalia  in  re."     It  maintains  that  in  addi- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  143 

tion  to  the  mind's  power  of  forming  images  of  indi- 
vidual things,  general  notions,  and  abstract  ideas,  by 
the  representation  of  the  attribute  which  many  indi- 
viduals have  in  common.  In  reply  to  this,  however. 
Nominalists  urge  that  general  names  are  only  the 
images  of  individual  objects  formed  by  concentrating 
the  attention  to  particular  characteristics  denoted  by 
general  names.  As  to  conceptualism  it  seems  to  con- 
tain a  still  greater  amount  of  truth,  though  not  without 
its  difficulties. 

It  seems  that  the  mind  can  conceive  any  number  of 
individuals  as  a  single  class,  and  that  general  names 
suggest  certain  ideas  or  mental  pictures,  otherwise  it 
would  be  impossible  to  use  those  general  names  with  a 
clear  understanding  of  their  meaning.  This  idea, 
which  is  called  up  by  a  general  name,  contains  the  dif- 
ferent circumstances  in  which  all  the  individuals  de- 
noted by  the  name  agree,  and  no  others. 

Whenever  we  think  or  reason  about  a  class  we  do  so 
by  means  of  this  general  idea.  Evidently  some  idea 
or  mental  conception  is  suggested  by  a  general  name, 
when  we  have  it  or  use  it  with  an  understanding  of  a 
meaning.     This  is  the  general  idea. 

Our  cognitive  faculties  are  not  limited  to  our  senses 
and  imagination;  if  they  were,  then  our  knowledge 
would  be  confined  to  individuals ;  and  we  should  be 
unable  to  form  general  ideas,  nor  should  we  have 
general  names  for  such  ideas.  But  the  understanding, 
after  comparing  particulars  and  observing  relations 
between  them,  forms  classes  to  which  we  give  general 
names.  The  idea  called  up  by  "wrong"  or  "right" 
may  not  be  cognizant  to  the  sense  or  imagination,  still 
it  is  thoroughly  understood  by  the  intellect.  Individu- 
als are  limited  to  space  and  time  and  cannot  be  imag- 


144  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ined  out  of  their  own  places;  but  the  general  idea  of 
man  is  confined  to  no  particular  race,  country,  or  year, 
so  this  idea  seems  to  be  reached  by  a  process  of 
abstraction. 

The  mind  seems  to  be  able  to  consider  such  quality 
by  itself  and  abstracted  from  all  others,  and  by  that 
m'eans  forms  abstract  ideas.  ■• 

The  mind  seems  capable  of  forming  ideas  of  color, 
shape,  movement,  etc.,  qualities  of  an  object  separate 
from  the  object,  though  it  is  impossible  for  these  quali- 
ties to  exist  separate  from  the  object  to  which  they 
belong.     This  is  done  by  abstraction  evidently. 

The  mind  can  thus  frame  for  itself  a  general  idea 
of  color,  shape,  etc.,  distinct  from  all  the  particular 
colors,  shapes  of  the  object  observed,  by  carefully  not- 
ing what  is  common  to  all  and  what  distinguishes  them 
one  from  another. 

Thus  by  a  process  of  abstraction  we  fix  the  mind  on 
the  circumstances  in  which  a  number  of  individuals 
are  found  to  agree  or  resemble  each  other ;  and  then 
by  a  process  of  generalization  we  arrange  them  accord- 
ing to  this  common  circumstance  into  classes  to  which 
we  give  a  common  name. 


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JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  145 


3tttro6uctioit  to  tl)e  'Writings  an6  Speeches  of 

For  most  of  the  writings  of  John  Eller  no  apology 
would  need  to  be  made  from  the  standpoint  of  compo- 
sition if  all  of  them  were  complete.  He  loved  to  write 
as  well  as  he  loved  to  speak ;  and  in  his  mind  the  two 
were  closely  associated.  His  writings  have  much  of 
the  fire  and  enthusiasm  of  the  debater,  with  perhaps  an 
occasional  overuse  of  the  rhetoric  of  the  orator ;  and 
his  best  speeches  have  much  of  the  ease  and  elegance 
of  more  finished  writing.  His  fondness  for  writing, 
combined  with  the  fact  that  he  lived  through  his 
senior  year — the  most  productive  period  in  the  life  of 
a  college  man — accounts  for  the  slight  preponderance 
of  his  writings  over  those  of  his  brother. 

"Man's  Inhumanity  to  Man"  was  written  for  the 
contest  for  the  Mangum  Medal  for  Oratory  at  the 
Commencement  of  1896.  As  in  the  case  of  "Institu- 
tions the  Result  of  Growth,"  the  choice  of  the  subject 
was  the  result  of  work  done  in  the  preparation  of  a 
thesis.  The  subject  of  the  thesis  was,  "What  Is 
Morality?"  Being  intensely  interested  in  the  subject, 
the  writer  decided  to  construct  an  oration  out  of  the 
material  he  had  collected.  "Morality  and  Life"  was 
the  title  of  this  oration  as  first  written ;  but  being  dis- 
satisfied with  it,  he  decided  to  write  another.  He  had 
discovered  that  "there  is  nothing  more  difficult  than 
the  transformation  of  a  thesis,  the  aim  of  which  is 
to  prove,  into  an  oration,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  move." 
It  was  found  very  desirable  to  include  egoism  as  well 
as  altruism  in  a  popular  discussion  of  morality.     Ac- 

10 


146     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

cordingly  the  oration  was  re-written  with  many  addi- 
tions and  alterations,  and  entitled,  "Man's  Inhumanity 
to  Man."  The  thesis  is  printed  in  this  volume  not 
only  because  of  its  close  relation  to  the  oration,  but 
because  of  its  power  of  thought  and  expression.  It 
throws  much  light  also  upon  the  thoroughness  with 
which  its  author  performed  his  college  class  work. 

"A  Plea  for  American  Commerce"  was  spoken  in 
the  inter-society  contest  at  the  Commencement  of  1894, 
while  the  speaker  was  still  a  Sophomore.  Readers 
will  find  it  instructive  to  compare  this  oration  with 
that  spoken  at  Commencement  two  years  later,  noting 
the  improvement  in  language  and  thought  in  spite  of 
the  excellence  of  the  earlier  oration. 

The  debate  opposing  rigid  party  organization  was 
written  for  the  inter-society  debate  on  March  4,  1895. 

The  second  speech  of  the  debate  (incomplete)  op- 
posing the  tendency  towards  centralization  in  the 
National  Government  was  delivered  in  the  best  de- 
bater's contest  in  the  Di  Society  held  on  April  19,  1895. 
The  manuscript  is  written  in  pencil  and  is  incomplete. 

The  article  on  "The  Origin  and  Rise  of  Government" 
is  evidently  a  thesis;  for  what  course  it  was  written 
and  whten,  cannot  now  be  ascertained ;  but  it  is  so  clear 
and  convincing  a  treatment  of  a  much  discussed  sub- 
ject that  we  include  it  here,  believing  it  worthy  of 
preservation. 

The  next  article,  which  is  printed  from  a  manu- 
script written  in  pencil,  is  the  first  or  second  draft  of  a 
speech  delivered  before  the  trustees  at  Raleigh  in  be- 
half of  the  non-fraternity  men  of  the  University.  It  is 
included  here  because  it  is  so  sane  and  clear  an  expo- 
sition of  the  grounds  of  those  who  led  the  anti- frater- 
nity  fight.     The    spirit    of    the    whole    discussion    is 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  147 

admirably  conservative  and  the  thought  thoroughly 
mature. 

The  articles  written  for  the  "White  and  Blue"  were, 
of  course,  written  for  temporary  ends  in  moments 
snatched  from  college  studies,  and  should  not  be 
judged  as  articles  written  for  a  college  magazine  of 
high  literary  standards. 

Of  the  two  poems  included  in  this  collection,  the  first 
was  printed  in  the  "White  and  Blue"  for  September 
21,  1894,  and  signed  "Carlton,  '96."  The  second  is 
found  on  an  undated  sheet  of  writing  paper  with  "J.  C. 
Eller,  '96,"  signed  at  the  bottom  of  the  page. 

The  next  piece  of  writing  is  untitled,  undated,  and 
incomplete.  It  seems  probable  that  it  is  the  first  draft 
of  the  essay  with  which  John  won  the  Essayist's 
Medal.  The  manuscript,  which  is  written  in  pencil,  is 
broken  in  at  least  two  places.  We  print  it  here  because 
of  its  many  excellent  passages  and  the  splendid  senti- 
ment which  it  contains.  We  entitle  it  Modern  Chiv- 
alry. 

The  Class  Farewell  was  delivered  at  the  close  of  the 
Commencement  of  1896.  It  forms  a  fitting  conclusion 
to  the  life  and  writings  of  a  noble  character  and  a 
gifted  intellect. 


MAN'S  INHUMANITY  TO  MAN 

Man's  inhumanity  to  man  has  caused  countless  mil- 
lions to  mourn.  Man's  humanity  to  man  shall  cause 
countless  millions  to  be  glad.  Chastened  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  shadow,  oft  bathed  in  blood  and  blinded  by 
tears,  mankind  has  ever  scaled  a  loftier  height  of  free- 
dom and  caught  a  clearer  view  of  the  world. 

The  drama  of  universal  history  acted  through  the 


148  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ages  in  the  tragic  strife  of  races,  has  ever  had  for  its 
leading  thought  the  relation  of  man  to  man. 

In  the  distant  dawn  of  the  world  the  formula  of  this 
problem  was  uttered  when  the  first  murderer,  stained 
with  the  blood  of  his  bosom  brother,  in  the  guilt  and 
anguish  of  his  stricken  soul,  cried  aloud  to  his  Creator : 
"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?" 

In  the  fiery  furnace  of  his  impassioned  heart  was 
forged  the  burning  thought  that  has  seared  its  way 
through  the  tortuous  grooves  of  man's  institutions  and 
left  its  stamp  on  all  his  workmanship. 

Deep-graven  on  the  human  heart  there  lives  the  im- 
mortal law  of  individual  right  and  the  enduring  ordi- 
nance of  social  duty.  The  imperfect  attainment  of 
their  true  harmony  is  traced  in  the  long  record  of 
man's  inhumanity  to  man ;  its  ideal  hope  is  enshrined 
in  the  vision  of  world-wide  peace. 

Whenever  these  twin-born  principles  of  right  and 
duty  are  distraught  by  the  strain  of  selfishness,  then 
breeds  the  violent  brood  of  strife  and  spreads  on 
earth  an  Inferno  of  infinite  suffering,  a  hell  of  human 
hate.  The  French  people,  in  their  furious,  frenzied 
zeal,  sowed  the  dragon's  teeth  of  vengeful  hate  and 
reaped  a  harvest  of  terror.  Like  the  deadly  tread  of 
Attila,  whose  fated  footfall  left  a  baneful  blight 
where'er  it  pressed,  man's  inhumanity  to  man  has 
spread  its  desolation  where  life,  liberty,  and  love  were 
wont  to  reign.  Everywhere  and  at  all  times  its  pres- 
ence has  palsied  and  its  touch  destroyed. 

The  human  race  has  trod  a  long  and  weary  way. 
Like  a  vast  caravan,  forever  on  the  march,  it  often 
seems  to  encamp  for  centuries ;  to  halt  at  some  great 
oasis  of  ease,  where  the  siren  song  of  luxury  lures 
away  the  heroism  of  man  as  the  mighty  hosts  of  Han- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  149 

nibal  were  weakened  by  the  sweet  languor  of  the  Cap- 
uan  air. 

But  human  progress  never  goes  backward.  "All 
that  was  deeply  good  and  truly  great  in  the  workman- 
ship of  the  past,  though  shattered  into  inchoate  frag- 
ments, ever  incarnates  itself  anew  and  lives  still  in  the 
freer  life  and  broader  character  of  the  world."  The 
golden  deeds  of  the  past  were  "stepping  stones  to  no- 
bler heights.  They  are  the  setting  of  the  diamond,  the 
Time-vesture  of  the  Eternal."  As  long  as  "every  hu- 
man heart  is  human,"  it  will  leap  to  life  in  the  martyr- 
dom of  Socrates ;  it  will  thrill  in  the  courage  of  Colum- 
bus ;  it  will  swell  with  joy  at  the  heroism  of  the  truth- 
loving  Luther.  Our  pulses  beat  with  pride  in  the  heri- 
tage of  glory  bequeathed  us  by  the  faithful  fathers  of 
our  revolution  and  our  intrepid  brothers  who  followed 
the  knightly  Lee  and  his  stern  victor  to  the  last  sad 
tragedy  at  Appomattox. 

The  cloud-capped  summit  of  Mitchell's  Mount  will 
ever  stand,  an  eternal  tribute  to  the  heroic  service  of 
its  hapless  discoverer.  In  these  and  a  thousand  more 
deeds  of  devotion  there  lives  the  deathless  inspiration 
of  human  hope  and  courage.  Through  the  heritage  of 
human  heroism  and  the  energy  of  dauntless  deeds, 
has  been  wrought  the  splendor  of  the  miodern  world 
and  garnered  the  glory  of  our  civilization. 

But  luminous  as  is  our  century's  life  with  the  glow- 
ing lig'ht  of  progress,  it  still  holds  its  myriad  wrongs. 
Even  the  higher  races  of  men  drain  the  energy  of  their 
life-blood  in  the  wasting  conflict  of  war  or  the  mainten- 
ance of  military  standards.  Russia  rests  on  a  volcano 
of  pent-up  Nihilism,  Germany  rocks  in  the  quaking 
throes  of  socialistic  thought;  Spain  staggers  to  her 
fall  in  intoxicated  folly  of  mediaeval  tyranny.     Eng- 


150  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

land  secures  her  bonds  and  collects  her  usury  by  means 
of  fleets  and  armies,  stationed  at  every  gateway  of  the 
Orient.  Across  the  horizon  of  Europe  there  lowers 
the  endless  Eastern  question,  portentious  of  strife  and 
angry  with  the  jargon  of  religions,  the  raillery  of 
races,  and  the  jealousy  of  powers. 

The  assassin  Turk  traces  his  red-handed  carnage 
across  the  defenseless  land  of  Armenia.  God-fearing 
and  Godforsaken  people,  brothers  to  us  in  race  and 
religion  since  the  ark  rested  on  thy  topmost  crag,  every 
flood  tide  of  human  conquest  has  beat  hard  against  thy 
mountain  walls.  Since  Xerxes  shook  thy  plains  with 
the  tread  of  his  marching  millions,  and  the  crusader 
yielded  his  life  to  rescue  the  shrine  of  our  Saviour,  thy 
land  has  been  the  battlefield  of  contending  nations  and 
the  gateway  of  migrating  races.  Unhappy  people,  thy 
heartrending  wail  may  well  startle  the  despot  and 
touch  to  tenderness  and  tears  the  swelling  heart  of  the 
Western  World.  But  thy  wrongs  must  endure  till 
another,  a  wiser,  a  holier  crusade  of  Christian  charity 
shall  wrest  again  and  forever  hold  those  lands  that 
gave  birth  to  truth. 

Here  in  beloved  America,  we  must  make  the  sad  con- 
fession of  man's  inhumanity  to  man.  The  industrial 
warfare,  that  dealt  disaster  at  Homestead  and  Pullman, 
unless  dispelled  by  the  warm  breath  of  reform,  will 
lay  our  land  in  waste  and  rend  its  happiness  in  twain. 

At  this  moment  our  fellow  countrymen  are  borne 
down  with  the  problem  of  gold  and  silver.  The  greed 
of  gain  has  thrust  its  hawklike  hand  between  these 
twin-born  and  necessary  servants  of  commerce,  heed- 
less of  the  injustice  done  and  forgetful  that  it  is  no 
less  dishonest  to  demand  the  dearest  dollar,  than  it  is 
to  pay  the  cheapest.     Our  daily  practice  makes  a  mock- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  151 

ery  of  our  daily  prayer :  "Forgive  us  our  debts  as  we 
forgive  our  debtors."  The  American  people  in  the 
ridiculous  paradox  of  public  opinion,  crush  the  prac- 
tice of  anarchy  as  a  political  crime,  but  in  the  industrial 
world  foster  it  as  a  virtue. 

But  industrial  inhumanity  is  not  all.  The  moral 
sense  of  the  nation,  hypnotized  with  selfish  fear,  hears 
with  little  heed  the  Cuban  cry  for  liberty.  Like  the 
poor  and  starving  Lazarus,  begging  before  the  palatial 
door  of  Dives,  prostrate  Cuba  is  at  our  gate  beseeching 
us  in  the  affluence  of  our  wealth  and  freedom  to  grant 
the  gift  of  a  paltry  crumb  of  service.  Shall  the  crime 
of  our  indifference  or  the  glory  of  our  support  take  its 
place  on  the  page  of  this  tragic  struggle?  Proud  and 
imperious  Spain !  Though  thy  mariners  gave  the 
world's  map  a  hemisphere  and  won  domain  o'er  the 
wave  and  the  Western  World,  their  task  was  done 
when  they  had  found  a  home  for  liberty.  The  irony  of 
fate,  the  motto  of  thy  prime,  "Ne  plus  ultra,"  was  pro- 
phetic of  thy  future.  For  thee  there  is  no  more  be- 
yond. As  thy  bloody  drama  in  the  New  World  opened 
with  the  crimes  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  so  it  closes  with 
the  inhuman  butcheries  of  a  Weyler.  An  impotent 
world  awaits  to  applaud  as  the  curtain  falls  on  this 
last  and  final  act,  intent  to  swell  the  gladsome  climax: 
"Cuba  is  free." 

"In  this  sordid  age,  when  the  purple  of  royalty  bows 
to  the  yellow  crest  of  Mammon,  when  the  mark  of 
merit  is  the  measure  of  the  purse,"  we  need  the  moral 
might  of  true  men;  men  not  laden  with  title  nor  opulent 
in  wealth,  but  strong  in  the  strength  of  freedom  and 
rich  in  human  sympathy ;  men,  who  can  lock  arms  with 
the  lordliest,  stand  breast  to  breast  with  the  mightiest, 
and  amid  figures  grown  colossal  with  wealth  and  full- 


152  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ness,  touch  the  shoulder  of  endeavor  with  the  accolade 
of  honor,  lift  patriotism  above  party  and  principle 
above  price.  Men,  such  as  these,  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  Monroe,  can  give  to  our  restless  people 
another  "Era  of  good  feeling"  and  establish  our  nation 
as  an  exemplar  and  arbiter  for  the  Republics  of  the 
Western  World. 

As  the  resistless  rush  of  mighty  Niagara  would  be 
void  of  its  splendor  and  bereft  of  its  beauty  with- 
out the  silvery  spray  that  crowns  its  crest,  so  will 
our  great  nervous  civilization  lose  its  vital  beauty 
without  the  lovely  spirit  of  Christian  hunnanity.  The 
title  of  our  freedom,  fixed  in  the  enchanted  parch- 
ment of  the  Constitution,  can  be  held  only  at  the  price 
of  eternal  vigilance.  Let  us  hearken,  then,  to  the 
angel-whisperings  of  conscience  and  the  loud  acclaim 
of  history,  as  they  repeat  to  us  the  eternal  accents  of 
the  moral  law. 

Too  much  has  our  life  been  measured  by  a  theory 
of  rights,  regardless  of  a  confession  of  duties.  The 
loveliness  of  life  is  too  often  lost  in  the  search  for  the 
means  of  living.  The  greatness  of  a  nation  is  not  in 
the  phosphorescent  glare  of  its  battlefields  nor  in  the 
Golgothas  sown  with  the  trophies  of  inhuman  triumph. 
It  is  in  the  strength  of  its  manhood  and  the  purity  of 
its  life. 

Though  the  roar  and  rush  of  our  vast  machinery 
should  silence  the  music  of  the  spheres  and  our  wealth 
were  worth  the  world,  its  power  cannot  frighten  his- 
tory nor  forbid  Eternal  Justice  to  write  with  fiery 
finger  on  the  walls  of  our  institutions :  "Weighed  in 
the  balances  and  found  wanting."  The  bulwarks  of 
the  commonwealth  must  be  girded  with  the  resistless 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  153 

splendor  of  the  moral  law  and  fortified  by  a  virtuous 
citizenship. 

And  we  shall  win.  There  is  lit  within  the  window 
of  humanity's  soul  a  spirit  that  shall  make  the  glooms 
of  its  morning  the  glory  of  its  prime.  Dowered  with 
a  destiny  of  divine  promise,  man  shall  ever  enhance  his 
heritage  by  deeds  of  devotion  and  the  Golden  Rule 
shall  yet  reign  supreme  as  the  basal  law  of  human 
life,  the  rich  revelation  that  crowns  the  freedom  of 
man. 

Despite  the  long  record  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man, 
this  closing  century  is  strewn  with  many  holy  traces 
of  Christian  service.  The  abolition  of  slavery,  the 
growth  of  popular  freedom,  the  impulse  for  missions, 
the  benevolence  of  philanthropy,  the  growing  demand 
for  arbitration — ^these  and  much  more  are  prophetic 
tokens  of  the  approach  of  another  century  clad  in  the 
white  splendors  of  perpetual  peace. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  that  he  leads  in 
the  van  of  higher  morals.  He  renounced  the  way  of 
human  slavery  and  the  world  is  walking  in  his  path. 
Wherever  on  the  dim  border  of  the  globe  there  is  a 
haven  or  harbor,  it  is  flecked  with  the  white  wings  of 
his  sail.  Where'er  he  goes  the  fragrance  of  his  pres- 
ence lingers  in  the  peace  offerings  of  his  civilization. 

Meet  it  is  that  the  closing  century  should  be  crowned 
with  the  peace-victories  of  arbitration.  The  eternal 
searchHght  of  truth  has  revealed  the  majesty  of  peace 
and  flashed  afar  the  beauty  of  its  works.  The  sword, 
which  was  never  more  than  a  hideous  gleam  in  the 
darkness,  must  rust  in  the  relic  chamber  of  the  race. 
May  the  consummation  of  the  grand  scheme  of  Eng- 
lish arbitration  call  forth  for  a  second  time  the  electric 
bolt  of  the  Atlantic  cable,  as  it  pulsates  the  wondrous 


154  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

message:  "What  hath  God  wrought,"  throughout  the 
oozy  dungeons  of  the  rayless  deep.  The  Enghsh  race 
needs  no  Isle  of  Delos  whereon  to  gather  for  the  glad 
intercourse  of  fellowship,  nor  any  Temple  of  Janus, 
with  closed  gates,  to  tell  the  short  intervals  of  peace. 
Let  it  register  in  the  azure  infinitude  of  heaven  the 
sacred  vow  of  justice,  a  flaming  beacon  to  light  the 
world  to  the  sure  and  unsullied  civilization  "toward 
which  the  w*hole  creation  moves." 

About  the  river  of  human  life  there  is  a  wintry 
wind :  it  is  the  chilling  blast  of  man's  inhumanity  to 
man.  But  on  its  billowy  surface  there  ever  gleams  the 
glad  radiance  of  a  God-given  sunshine:  it  is  the  glow- 
ing promise  of  man's  humanity  to  man.  And  as  sure 
as  God  reigns  and  His  purpose  lives,  the  stream  of 
human  progress  flows  onward  to  the  eternal  haven  of 
universal  peace  forever  guarded  by  the  sacred  citadel 
of  truth. 


WHAT  IS  MORALITY 

From  that  remote  time  when  God  spoke  to  the  first 
man  and  asked,  "Where  art  thou?"  and  to  the  first 
murderer  and  demanded,  "Where  is  thy  brother?" 
the  most  practical  and  immediate  interest  for  man  has 
ever  been  his  relation  to  man.  Throughout  all  the 
succession  of  human-tide,  the  question  has  ever  become 
more  imperative,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  And 
to  us  this  question  is  propounded  with  greater  empha- 
sis than  ever  before. 

We  are  living  at  the  high-tide  of  human  history. 
Never  before,  it  is  believed,  has  there  been  such  far- 
reaching  human  intercourse,  such  surging  interest 
throughout  the  great  deep  of  human  life,  such  world- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  155 

wide  complexity  and  intricate  inter-dependence  of 
human  relationship.  The  phenomenal  achievements 
of  material  civilization,  the  stupendous  conquests  of 
environment,  the  growth  of  scientific  knowledge — 
these  and  many  more  influences  have  profoundly 
touched  the  widening  world  of  ethics.  Indeed,  our 
age,  more  than  any  preceding  it,  may  well  be  termed 
the  Ethical  Era;  for  its  most  pervasive  interest  clings 
around  the  relation  of  man  to  man.  Its  life  is  busied 
with  the  complex  problems  of  human  relationship. 

The  relation  of  man  to  man  is  the  human  problem, 
ever  recurring  for  solution  wherever  man  exists.  It 
is  the  question,  What  is  Morality,  and  it  is  this  wide 
significance  it  has  for  mankind  that  gives  it  its  vast 
philosophical  import. 

To  discover  the  truth  and  meaning  of  this  relation- 
ship, we  must  first  necessarily  make  an  analysis  of  the 
moral  consciousness,  which  underlies  all  human  rela- 
tions or  moral  deeds.  In  such  an  analysis  we  discover 
that  the  latent  moral  consciousness  is  composed  of  a 
complex  mental  content  about  the  self,  other  selves, 
and  the  mutual  relation  between  the  two  terms.  Every 
moral  consciousness  has  this  constitution,  else  what 
would  be  the  significance  in  calling  the  deed,  which  it 
directs,  moral?  For  moral  is  applied  to  the  relations 
existing  between  men. 

Moreover,  these  elements  are  present  in  all  moral 
volition.  We  cannot  think  without  terms  standing  in 
relation,  and  without  thought  this  consciousness  is  in- 
conceivable. This  fundamental  basis  of  the  character 
of  the  moral  consciousness  tells  us  that  man  cannot 
escape  the  responsibility  of  moral  life. 

While  these  elements  of  the  moral  consciousness  are 
constant,  moral  action  is  ever  particular  and  changing. 


156  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

The  moral  act  necessarily  varies  as  the  content  of  the 
elements  of  the  moral  consciousness  changes.  But  the 
consciousness  in  its  general  aspect  is  universal.  While 
moral  activity  is  as  varied  in  concrete  expression  as 
humanity  itself,  still  the  moral  consciousness  is  as  uni- 
versal as  man.  It  is  one  and  fundamental.  Thus  we 
make  the  distinction :  Moral  action  is  the  conscious 
response  of  the  self  to  the  mutual  inter-dependence  of 
the  self  and  other  selves;  the  moral  consciousness  is 
the  recognition  of  the  reality  of  the  self  and  other 
selves  as  moral,  and  their  relationship. 

So  it  would  seem  that  this  consciousness  must  be 
continuous  from  the  birth  of  self-consciousness,  though 
probably  at  first  so  vague  as  to  evade  discovery.  The 
very  idea  of  self  implies  that  of  not-self.  Self  sees 
its  existence  in  the  mirror  of  externality.  It  learns  to 
know  itself  by  interpreting  the  outer  and  makes  itself 
intelligible  only  by  objectification. 

The  birth  of  morality  comes  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence in  every  individual  life  and  in  the  life  of  every 
race.  There  is  a  time  for  each  when  it  is  not  existent 
• — its  potentiality  is  not  recognized — it  has  not  yet 
arrived  at  this  stage  of  self-realization. 

This  consciousness  seems  to  arise  out  of  the  life  of 
physical  want  and  necessity.  The  vague  and  self-less 
mist  of  consciousness  which  prefaces  the  beginning  of 
human  being  is  but  a  bundle  of  physical  wants.  It 
simply  responds  to  sensations  and  seeks  to  retain  its 
passive  pleasure  by  the  removal  of  impending  pain. 
In  this  vague  activity  for  self-preservation  the  self  is 
restricted  by  repetition  of  response  and  established  by 
persistent  habit,  at  last  gaining  a  fixed  standing  point, 
where  the  ego  feels  itself  a  reality  and  distinct  from  an 
external  world. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  157 

This,  in  general,  then,  is  the  birth  of  self -conscious- 
ness and  with  it  of  other-consciousness.  But  the  moral 
consciousness  as  such  is  not  yet  awakened.  It  still 
slumbers,  but  it  stirs  with  trembling  life  in  this  first 
stage  of  its  nativity.  The  content  is  physical.  The 
self  is  felt  as  a  mere  something  and  all  else  is  a  mass 
of  things,  looked  upon  as  legitimate  prey  for  self- 
gratification.  Still  in  this  stage  we  may  trace  the  rudi- 
ments of  morality,  an  embryonic  ethics.  It  is  the  bio- 
logical function  of  all  physical  life  both  to  seek  nutri- 
tion of  self  and  reproduction  of  self  for  other  selves. 
Here  we  may  see  the  dim  basis  for  the  conscious  strug- 
gle for  life  and  for  the  life  of  others.  "These  two 
functions  run  their  parallel  course — or  spiral  course, 
for  they  continuously  intertwine — from  the  very  dawn 
of  life.  They  are  involved  in  the  fundamental  nature 
of  protoplasm  itself."  (Drummond:  Ascent  of  Man, 
p.  13).  This  stage  is  the  animal  stage  of  being. 
Trace  its  growth  a  step  higher  and  the  content  of  the 
consciousness  has  filled — reason  has  dawned — animal 
has  become  man — and  man  has  become  moral.  The 
primal  instinct  laid  the  track  for  reflection  and  thought 
analyzed  and  synthesized  the  realities  and  relations,  at 
first  discovered  by  feeling.  The  truer  nature  of  self 
appears.  It  is  not  merely  a  physical,  self -asserting 
atom.  It  is  moral  and  social.  Through  the  growth  of 
reason  the  nature  of  the  other  self  has  changed  into 
persons  as  well  as  things.  As  Emerson  pointed  out, 
"Persons  are  love's  world,"  and  this  distinction  sug- 
gests the  whole  scope  of  morality. 

This  distinction  in  the  content  of  consciousness  is  at 
once  operative  in  the  self.  The  common  nature  and 
kinship  of  self  and  other  persons  (at  first  limited  in 
number  and  range)  are  perceived.     "As  in  water,  face 


158  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man."  _  It  is 
the  objective  image  of  the  nature  sleeping  within  us, 
that  wakes  it  up  and  startles  it  into  self-knowledge. 
The  living  exhibition  in  another  of  higher  affections 
than  we  have  known,  far  from  remaining  unintelligible 
to  us,  is  the  grand  means  of  spiritual  culture,  the 
quickener  of  conscience,  and  the  opener  of  new  faith. 
The  natural  language  of  every  passion  of  which  we  are 
susceptible  speaks  to  us  with  a  marvellous  magic  and 
calls  up  fresh  islands  and  provinces  of  consciousness 
where  there  was  a  blank  before."  (Martineau  :  Types 
of  Ethical  Theory,  Vol.  2,  p.  63). 

The  conscious  ministration  of  others  to  the  self 
revccds  the  fact  that  it  has  rights  and  the  inseparable 
thought  simultaneously  appears  that  to  these  others  it 
owes  duties.  Then,  right  and  duty  stand  as  the  neces- 
sary counterpart  of  each  other.  The  ethical,  the  moral 
consciousness  has  been  born. 

"Thus  man  beginning  as  a  percipient  consciousness, 
apprehending  single  objects  in  space  and  time,  and  as 
an  appetitive  self  bent  upon  single  gratification,  has 
ended  as  a  rational  being — a  consciousness  purged  of 
its  selfishness  and  isolation,  looking  forward  openly 
and  impartially  on  the  universe  of  things  and  being. 
He  has  ceased  to  be  a  mere  animal,  swallowed  up  in 
the  moment  and  the  individual,  seeing  his  intelligence 
only  in  selfish  satisfaction.  He  is  no  longer  bound 
down  by  the  struggle  for  existence,  looking  on  every- 
thing as  a  mere  thing,  a  mere  means.  He  has  erected 
himself  above  himself  and  his  environment."  (Wal- 
lace :  Fourth  Introductory  Essay  to  Hegel's  Philosophy 
of  Mind,  p.  172). 

The  ethical  sense  thus  born  changes  according  to  its 
content.     Development,  education,  evolution,  civiliza- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  159 

tion  or  whatever  else  we  choose  to  call  the  process  of 
self-realization  is  dependent  largely  upon  this  moral 
content.  But  the  moral  content  no  less  depends  upon 
environment  and  education.  At  first  the  reason  sees 
the  self  in  kinship  with  but  a  small  and  limited  circle. 
Its  growth  widens  until  at  last  all  mankind  and  even 
all  nature  is  comprehended.  Reason  at  last  gains  the 
intuition  of  the  unity  of  the  world,  and  "One  touch  of 
nature  makes  the  Whole  world  kin."  "In  historical 
development  a  relentless  logic  is  at  work  leading  sym- 
pathy to  conquer  not  only  personal  egoism,  but  also 
the  egoism  of  family  and  of  nation  and  creed.  Impar- 
tial knowledge  works  into  the  hands  of  widest  sympa- 
thy and  both  come  to  a  stop  only  at  natural  bounda- 
ries."    (Hoffman:  OutHnes  of  Psychology,  p.  256). 

The  movement  has  thus  been  one  of  self-realization. 
Having  the  moral  law  written  on  his  heart,  man  in- 
stinctively reaches  after  its  realization  in  the  attitude 
of  Good  Faith,  with  which  he  enters  the  world.  But 
this  instinct  is  only  an  impelling  force.  It  needs  guid- 
ance and  this  alone  is  reached  through  experience, 
through  knowledge.  Thus  the  true  moral  conscious- 
ness is  a  fusion  of  knowing  and  feeling.  Feeling  sup- 
plies the  dynamic  energy;  knowing  furnishes  the 
agency  for  application.  The  proper  adjustment  of  the 
two  gives  the  fullest  volition,  the  highest  morality. 
The  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  our  fellowmen  is 
twofold :  attraction  and  repulsion.  "The  element  of 
attraction  we  call  love;  that  of  repulsion  constitutes 
the  element  of  individuality.  The  attraction  is  the 
impulse  of  the  reason,  which  feels  the  fundamental 
unity  of  all  life.  The  repulsion  corresponds  with  the 
understanding,  which  separates  one  life  from  all  others. 
This  twofold  instinct  teaches  us  to  seek  the  good  of 


160     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

others  and  to  leave  them  their  freedom.  Experience 
alone  can  teach  us  what  is  for  their  good,  and  how 
much  freedom  may  be  allowed  to  each  and  at  the  same 
time  the  freedom  of  all  be  preserved."  (Everitt: 
Science  of  Tihought,  p.  151). 

Thus  we  have  seen  the  birth  and  growth  of  the  moral 
sense.  In  the  large  or  small,  man  begins  as  a  physical 
being  and  his  civilization  is  marked  in  large  degree  by 
the  standard  of  his  morality.  The  basement  of  his 
being  is  darkened  by  selfish  animality  and  it  is  only 
when  he  looks  out  through  the  spiritual  attitude  of  his 
nature  that  he  begins  truly  to  realize  himself,  assume 
his  true  freedom,  and  recognize  the  divine  goodness  of 
the  world.  The  process  is  distinctively  one  of  evolu- 
tion. 

Morality,  then,  is  the  universal  of  man.  It  is  so  be- 
cause it  is  human.  Based  in  feeling,  discovered  in  know- 
ing, directed  in  willing,  it  permeates  at  once  the  whole 
tissue  of  human  consciousness.  And  it  is  this  univer- 
sality that  gives  to  it  its  deepest  meaning  and  most  sig- 
nificant interpretation.  Mian  is  moral  because  he  must 
be.  Unless  he  be  either  a  brutish  beast  or  a  guileless 
god,  it  is  an  unavoidable  necessity.  He  is  built  on 
the  moral  plane  and  cannot  escape  it.  Thus  morality 
is  life.  It  is  a  fundamental,  universal,  and  persistent 
human  attribute. 

Like  life,  morality  is  the  struggle  of  the  individual 
to  become  the  universal.  This  is  the  formula  of  life 
(Everitt:  Science  of  Thought,  p.  106),  and  therefore 
of  morality.  The  individual  man  is  self-limited,  but 
he  holds  the  potential  universal  within  him.  The  es- 
trangement of  self  and  realization  of  the  universal  is 
therefore  the  established  line  of  life.  Man  is  an 
individual,    but    he     is     more    than     an     individual. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  161 

He  gets  his  existence  by  relation  to  other  and 
richer  reahties.  A  self-sufficient  individual  is  incon- 
ceivable. The  moral  sense  demands  the  individual  in 
relation  with  other  individuals.  The  self  becomes  a 
deeper  reality  in  proportion  as  it  establishes  its  connec- 
tion with  society  and  humanity.  Thus  great  men  are 
always  those  who  fulfill  in  some  way  the  unattained 
yearnings  of  humanity.  They  simply  interpret  the 
deeper  truths  of  life  and  bring  to  light  those  things 
that  touch  to  enthusiasm  the  common  nature  of  man- 
kind. The  insight  of  genius,  as  Carlyle  puts  it,  is  "a 
co-operation  with  the  real  tendency  of  the  world." 
The  hermit  and  misanthrope  are  moral  and  social  para- 
doxes. They  are  types  of  inhumanity.  In  the  words 
of  Professor  Peabody,  of  Harvard,  "True  liberty  is 
the  discovery  of  one's  place  in  the  universal  organism." 
Thus  it  must  be  clear  that  man  is  related  to  man  in  the 
widest  sense,  if  he  would  only  realize  it.  Humanity 
has  a  common  nature  which  commands  the  voluntary 
response  of  our  sympathies.  And  this  in  turn  reveals 
to  us  the  end  and  law  of  our  conscious  activity  and 
being. 

We  have  before  us,  then,  in  morality,  two  terms: 
Self  and  other-self.  I  and  thou  are  in  relation  and  by 
that  relation  my  rights  are  thy  duties;  my  duties  are 
thy  rights.  Thus  each  term  has  its  own  claim  and 
validity.  From  the  standpoint  of  either  term  there 
are  two  aspects  which  indicate  the  whole  sphere  of 
ethical  volition.  The  one  regards  the  self  as  the  center 
of  all  reality  and  the  cynosure  of  all  duty;  the  other, 
losing  sight  of  self,  regards  the  fellow-self  as  the  cen- 
tral reality  and  the  one  demanding  service.  One  aspect 
gives  rise  to  selfish  motives;  the  other  to  motives  of 
goodwill  and  sympathy.  "One  begets  competition, 
11 


162  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

self-assertion,  war ;  the  other,  unselfishness,  self-efface- 
ment, peace."  ( Drummond  :  Ascent  of  Man,  p.  19). 
Egoism  is  the  term  which  stands  for  the  impulses  of 
self;  Altruism  is  applied  to  the  motives  which  aim  to 
secure  the  good  of  others. 

Thus  the  duality  of  the  moral  life  is  apparent.  "It 
is  the  essential  nature  of  myself,  as  finite,  equally  to 
assert  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  pass  beyond  itself;  and 
hence  the  objects  of  self-sacrifice  and  of  self -advance- 
ment are  equally  mine."  (Bradley:  Appearance  and 
Reality,  p.  417).  There  are  two  elements  of  self  and 
other-self,  and  the  aspect  varies  as  the  current  of  inter- 
est is  turned  inward  toward  self  or  outward  toward 
others.  It  is  the  twofold  basis  of  the  moral  sense, 
repulsion  and  attraction,  seen  at  a  new  standpoint,  and 
again  we  must  say  experience  is  the  proper  judge  of 
the  relative  value  of  either. 

Egoism  is  undoubtedly  the  predominating  element 
in  the  primitive  development  of  man.  It  is  so  because 
of  the  dominance  of  the  physical.  The  self,  busied 
with  its  immediate  wants,  magnifies  its  own  impor- 
tance because  it  has  not  yet  acquired  the  long-sighted 
vision  that  comes  with  thought  and  reflection.  The 
reasoned  unity  of  mankind  is  no  early  intuition  of  the 
human  mind.  Thus  egoism  is  the  forerunner  of  altru- 
ism. Both  grow  out  of  man's  nature  and  are  prima- 
rily instinctive.  They  become  binding  just  as  they  are 
recognized  by  the  intellect  as  establishing  right  or  im- 
posing obligation. 

Here,  then,  we  find  again  the  exemplification  of  the 
individual  and- the  universal  in  the  ethical  life.  Ego- 
ism stands  for  self-assertion,  for  the  individual ;  altru- 
ism stands  for  self-sacrifice,  for  the  universal.  One 
represents  the   struggle   for   life,  and  is  a  disruptive 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  163 

force;  the  other  means  the  struggle  for  the  Hfe  of 
others  and  is  a  social,  constructive  force.  Both  are 
necessary  and  proper  impulses.  The  difficulty  inheres 
in  the  duality.  Where  to  draw  the  line,  how  make  an 
equable  harmonization — these,  which  at  least  are  the 
problems  of  all  reality,  confront  us  for  solution. 

The  self  is  real  and  has  its  demands.  It  is  of  prime 
and  immediate  importance.  It  must  not  surrender  the 
charter  of  its  rights  at  any  hazard.  "The  struggle  for 
life,  as  life's  dynamic,  can  never  wholly  cease.  In  the 
keenness  of  its  energies,  -the  splendor  of  its  stimulus, 
its  bracing  effect  on  character,  its  wholesome  tension 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  action,  it  must  remain 
with  us  to  the  end."  (Drummond:  Ascent  of  Man, 
p.  212). 

On  the  other  hand,  the  self  must  recognize  its  wide 
relationships  and  its  imperative  duties  to  its  fellows. 
Even  from  selfish  motives  it  cannot  live  secluded,  for 
it  is  helplessly  social  and  dependent.  As  it  has  its  be- 
ing by  others  it  must  lead  its  life  for  others. 

"Nature  makes  no  move.  Society  achieves  no  end, 
the  Cosmos  advances  not  one  step,  that  is  not  depend- 
ent on  co-operation ;  and  while  the  discords  of  the 
world  disappear  with  growing  knowledge,  science  only 
reveals  with  increasing  clearness  the  universality  of 
its  reciprocities."      (Ibid.,  p.  241). 

Thus  the  two  terms  stand  over  against  each  other 
apparently  hostile  and  irreconcilable.  But  in  the  light 
of  reason  the  conflict  stands  forth  as  the  manifest 
working  of  divine  goodness.  As  the  universal  is  unin- 
telligible apart  from  the  individual,  as  unity  cannot 
exist  save  in  variety,  so  humanity  cannot  survive  and 
grow  except  in  the  organization  of  its  parts,  the  differ- 
entiated individual  integers. 


164  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Likewise,  self  and  the  individual  cannot  be  born,  grow, 
or  live,  without  the  sustaining  relationship  of  human 
society.  The  individual,  continually  striving  to  realize 
his  better  nature,  to  elevate  himself  by  mutual  service 
with  others ;  humanity,  as  a  whole,  working  to  make 
every  individual  better,  this  is  the  dual  force  of  moral 
life ;  the  positive  dynamic  that  impels  man  heavenward. 
It  is  the  shuttle  of  the  eternal  loom  and  its  ultimate 
web  is  human  hope  and  happiness. 

Both  impulses  are  good  in  their  sphere,  but  the 
extreme  prosecution  of  either  is  harmful.  Thus  the 
reign  of  extreme  egoism  would  yield  an  inferno  of 
infinite  suffering,  a  hell  of  human  hate.  France,  in 
the  blinding  of  her  zeal,  tried  it  and  verily  it  resulted 
in  a  Reign  of  Terror.  It  leads  to  anarchy  in  the 
State  and  atheism  in  religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  reign  of  altruism,  if  it  were 
possible  of  attainment,  would  be  as  senseless  as  pure 
egoism  is  wicked.  It  would  lead  inevitably  to  the  ab- 
solutism of  socialism  in  the  State  and  inert  stagnation 
in  religion.  Happily,  the  eternal  message  comes  to  us : 
"Render  therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's." 
We  must  first  of  all  be  men.  To  be  that  is  to  be  indi- 
viduals great  by  virtue  of  wide  and  living  relationship. 
Character  on  one  hand  and  service  on  the  other — these 
are  the  two  positive  dual  forces  that  count  for  true  life 
in  the  world  of  ethics.  Integrity  and  love  must  ever 
stand  in  alliance  if  either  the  individual  or  society 
would  realize  its  fuller  growth. 

Thus  we  see  how  both  egoism  and  altruism  strike 
into  each  other  as  mutually  inter-dependent.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  validity  of  both  impulses  is  contradictory, 
let  it  be  answered  that  so  is  life.     Life  is  our  supreme 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  165 

test,  and  it  presents  countless  contradictions.  It  is 
richer  than  any  of  its  aspects,  but  because  its  aspects 
appear  to  be  contradictory  is  no  proof  of  their  utter 
unreality.  The  Greek  sophist  carried  his  theory  of 
individualism  to  a  fatal  extreme  and  it  went  to  pieces 
by  the  sheer  force  of  its  own  inherent  weakness.  In- 
dividualism, while  it  has  its  degree  of  truth,  is  but  one 
phase  of  it.  It  needs  the  principle  of  solidarity  to  help 
it  out.  Looked  at  from  its  own  angle,  either  egoism  or 
altruism  appears  to  supply  the  needs  of  life.  But  their 
true  rank  in  the  world  of  ethics  is  equal;  their  spheres 
are  co-operative. 

It  must  be  quite  clear,  then,  that  morality  is  a  strug- 
gle. Misunderstanding  and  unreason  array  self 
against  self,  and  the  way  of  life  is  strewn  with  prob- 
lematic confusion.  It  is  so  because  it  is  an  incomplete 
stage  of  human  life.  The  individual  is  not  yet  the 
universal,  but  he  is  struggling  to  be.  The  moral  man 
is  thus  working  toward  the  universal  and  this  is  the 
only  way  to  truth.  It  is  in  this  very  struggle  which 
inheres  in  morality  that  we  find  its  power  and  proph- 
ecy. The  burning  sense  of  ought  is  a  dynamic  force 
that  impels  us  forward  irresistibly.  When  strife  ends, 
goodness  and  virtue  end  also.  "Der  Rechte,  das  Gute 
fuhrt  ewig  strieb." 

In  the  thought  of  Hegel  (Geo.  S.  Morris:  Hegel's 
Philosophy  of  the  State  and  of  History,  pp.  124-5), 
"The  only  way  in  which  the  true  universal  can  be  es- 
tablished is  through  the  successive  assertion — self- 
assertion — and  negation  of  the  particular ;  the  only 
way  in  which  substantial  freedom  can  be  realized  is 
through  the  assertion  of  formal,  subjective  freedom 
and  its  negation.  Thus  the  human  failures  of  history 
are  divine  or  providential  successes.     The  apparent 


166  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

evil  is  partly  good  in  the  making;  it  is  the  'cunning  of 
reason,'  w"hich  allows  selfish  interest  to  have  its  own 
way  and  yet  makes  it  ministerial  to  the  ends  of  reason." 

Thus  morality,  far  from  being  complete,  issues  into 
religion.  Just  as  the  physical  remains  suspended  in 
the  moral,  so  does  religion  include  morality.  Indeed, 
the  moral  has  all  the  while  been  inseparably  related 
with  the  religious,  for  they  are  branches  of  a  common 
trunk.  In  religion  man  is  bound  directly  to  God;  in 
morality  man  is  bound  to  man,  because  of  their  com- 
mon relation  to  God.  Thus  morality  is  an  expression 
of  religion;  religion  is  the  life  of  morality.  The  one 
without  the  other  is  unreal. 

Historically,  the  transition  from  Judaism  to  Chris- 
tianity is  the  clearest  illustration  of  the  distinction  of 
the  two.  "Judaism  was  a  religion  of  law.  Christian- 
ity is  a  religion  of  love.  Judaism  sought  to  control  the 
life  by  a  system  of  external  rules.  Christianity  seeks 
to  control  the  life  by  an  inward  principle  of  love. 
Every  duty  is  susceptible  of  being  performed  on  either 
of  these  planes ;  but  none  is  complete  until  it  has  been 
translated  from  law  to  love,  until,  instead  of  being  the 
result  of  a  principle  of  duty  acting  upon  one  from  the 
outside,  it  flows  out  of  the  inmost  and  essential  nature 
of  the  person  who  performs  the  act."  (Everitt: 
Science  of  Thought,  p.  220). 

Moral  law  is  necessary  for  the  great  mass  of  weak- 
ling humanity,  for  it  has  not  yet  reached  a  truly  re- 
ligious plane.  Here  morality  is  necessarily  transi- 
tional. 

It  is  the  interpretation  and  emphasis  of  these  truths 
that  make  Christianity  the  religion  of  the  ages.  Recog- 
nizing as  it  does  the  validity  of  the  physical,  the  moral, 
and  the  spiritual  and  their  inter-dependence,  it  becomes 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  167 

at  once  the  life — religion.  It  is  grounded  in  life, 
works  in  life,  and  ever  seeks  for  the  high  realization 
of  man's  potentiality.  Christianity  thus  keeping  close 
to  life  ever  impels  the  individual  to  struggle  towards 
the  universal.  Christian  ethics  supplies  the  truest 
basis  for  morality  because  it  never  loses  sight  of  the 
universal  ideal  which  we  ought  to  attain. 

The  trouble  with  most  moral  systems  of  the  world 
has  been  the  dominance  of  a  code  of  rules,  whose 
growth  out  of  life  was  not  perceived  and  whose  con- 
tent was  not  the  true  expression  of  the  people's  life. 
Buddhism  sought  deliverance  from  selfhood.  Chris- 
tianity seeks  delivery  from  selfishness.  The  Buddhist 
desired  riddance  from  life ;  the  Christian  clings  to  life 
with  hope  and  energy.  The  one's  belief  led  to  passiv- 
ity; the  other's  to  activity.  The  one  hoped  to  free 
himself  from  evil  by  passively  renouncing  not  only  all 
action,  but  life  itself;  the  other  hopes  to  conquer  by 
action  and  helps  himself  while  serving  others. 

Christianity  is  the  summation  and  coronation  of  all 
preceding  religions.  The  thought  of  the  unity  of  real- 
ity was  reached  by  the  Hindu.  The  application  of  this 
thought  by  successive  races  in  succeeding  times  has 
wrought  out  in  ever  widening  significance  the  thought 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  This  truth  with  its  parent 
truth  are  summed  up  and  emphasized  by  Christianity 
in  concrete  and  living  expression.  The  movement  has 
been  from  abstract  thought,  through  wider  and  wider 
application  to  life,  to  concrete  and  embodied  being. 

Christ  was  the  universal  individual  man.  In  him 
are  focused  the  lives  of  truth  and  goodness.  He  is 
at  once  the  strongest  individuality  of  history,  the  truest 
servant  of  humanity,  the  most  perfect  fruitage  of  hu- 
man life.     No  other  ones  have  been  the  actor  as  well 


168     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

as  the  author  of  the  Golden  Rule :  Love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself.  This  is  the  simple  couching  of  the  grand- 
est and  most  profound  philosophy  ever  uttered. 

Without  law  there  could  be  no  organization  of  soci- 
ety, and  without  freedom  there  could  be  no  moral 
character.  How,  then,  can  the  individual  be  free  and 
yet  under  law?  This  great  problem  of  the  ages,  with 
which  heathen  philosophy  and  pagan  civilization  grap- 
pled in  vain,  Christ  solved  with  one  word — Love. 
This  is  the  essence  of  Christianity.  Opposed  to  sel- 
fishness it  is  its  divine  antidote.  It  transforms  the 
whirlpool  of  evil  into  a  fountain  of  good.  Realizing 
the  true  solution  of  morality  and  religion  it  gives  each 
its  truest  statement.  The  universal  of  religion  is 
found  to  be  God,  for  religion  is  the  relation  of  man  to 
God.  The  universal  of  morality  is  seen  to  be  man,  for 
morality  is  man  to  man. 

Thus  in  the  higher  union  the  ethical  assumes  the 
religious  aspect  and  egoism  and  altruism  are  blended 
into  harmony.  In  this  deeper  interpretation,  the  real- 
ity of  the  self  is  maintained  in  the  truth  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  the  altruistic  aspect  is  asserted 
as  the  fundamental  brotherhood  of  man.  Thus  man's 
life  is  made  out  to  be  immortal,  and  yet  he  is  the  eter- 
nal brother  of  all  men,  because  of  his  inherent  divinity, 
which  manifests  itself  and  works  throughout  mankind. 
Herein  is  manifest  the  sublimest  thought  of  the  world : 
the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  fatherhood  of  God. 
Thus  Christianity  fits  life.  It  seeks  not  to  lay  its  basis 
on  the  lowly  earth  or  suspend  it  from  the  vaulted  sky, 
but  it  rests  it  upon  the  fundamental  truths  of  human 
consciousness. 

It  is  this  character  of  Christian  ethics  that  makes  it 
especially  significant  for  us.     We  are  in  constant  strug- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  169 

gle  and  intercourse  with  our  fellows.  Our  life  is  an 
ethical  whirlpool,  a  mighty  maelstrom  of  moral  rela- 
tionships. How  can  we  best  guide  our  life's  bark 
through  it?  Our  conclusion  would  plainly  press  the 
need  of  the  sustaining  surety  of  religion — the  vitality 
of  spiritual  fullness.  Our  civilization,  taking  its 
color  from  the  philosophy  of  individualism,  already 
exalts  the  abnomial  importance  of  self.  It  is  in  sad 
subjection  to  the  dictation  of  selfish  materialism.  The 
standard  of  egoism,  taken  alone,  is  unnatural  and  not 
truly  human.  Under  the  color  of  liberty  it  nurtures 
the  tyranny  of  self.  Competition  by  itself  is  the  cure 
that  kills.  It  is  the  precept  of  Ishmael  and  arrays 
every  man's  hand  against  every  other.  It  is  the  creed 
of  Cain,  for  man  cannot  live  on  the  single  principle  of 
the  struggle  for  life.  The  softening  influence  of  an 
altruistic  spirit  needs  to  be  breathed  into  our  civiliza- 
tion, to  make  it  expand  and  glow  with  health.  The 
angles  of  our  selfishness  need  to  be  pared  away  and 
competition  should  be  wedded  to  co-operation. 

While  our  century  is  doubtless  the  best  of  all  time, 
its  very  completeness  reveals  its  imperfection.  It 
demonstrates  the  truth  expressed  by  Browning:  "Man 
was  made  to  grow,  not  stop." 

As  Christianity  is  the  truest  philosophy,  the  richest  re- 
ligion, and  the  best  life,  so  for  our  needs  it  must  bring 
the  surest  alleviation.  With  healing  on  its  wings  its 
spirit  should  meet  and  mingle  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  "We  must  not  say  love  and  law,  but  love  in 
law."  (Everitt:  "Relation  of  Jesus  to  the  Present 
Age"  in  "Christianity  and  Modern  Thought,"  p.  145). 

The  tendency  is  happily  altruistic.  The  century  is 
strewn  with  many  holy  traces  of  Christian  service, 
despite  the  long  record  of  "Man's  inhumanity  to  man." 


170     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

The  abolition  of  slavery,  the  growth  of  free  govern- 
ment, the  impulse  for  missions,  the  benevolence  of 
philanthropy — these  and  much  more  are  the  promise 
and  the  happy  prophecy  of  human  hope  and  progress. 

But  there  still  remains  the  troublous  strife  of  labor 
and  capital,  the  sectional  and  caste  prejudice,  that  are 
the  tokens  of  narrowness.  We  have  drifted  into  the 
peril  of  conducting  life  by  a  theory  of  rights,  regardless 
of  a  confession  of  duties;  in  losing  life  in  the  search 
for  the  means  of  living.  Our  standards  must  become 
broader,  more  tolerant,  more  universal,  and  that  means 
the  realization  of  the  moral  constitution  of  man. 

And  so,  in  brief,  we  have  found  out  that  morality  is 
the  relation  of  man  to  man.  The  moral  sense  is  the 
consciousness  of  the  mutual  relation  of  self  and  other- 
self.  This  consciousness  is  born  out  of  physical  want. 
Its  growth  depends  on  its  content,  and  its  content 
depends  both  on  the  inherent  potentiality  and  the 
influence  of  the  external  environments.  The  content 
at  first  physical,  becomes  moral  by  the  intuition  of 
reason.  The  moral  sense  is  universal  because  it  is  a 
human  attribute.  Morality  is  life,  and  hence  is  the 
struggle  of  the  individual  to  become  the  universal. 
Being  a  struggle,  it  is  dualistic.  Egoism  and  altruism 
are  its  two  aspects — the  one  standing  for  self-assertion, 
the  other  for  self-sacrifice.  Each  aspect  is  true  and 
legitimate,  but  needs  the  other  for  completion.  Mor- 
ality is  a  struggle,  because  it  is  incomplete.  It  issues 
necessarily  into  religion,  for  religion  is  its  underlying 
support.  It  is  the  expression  of  religion.  Christianity 
is  the  deepest  interpretation  of  these  truths.  It  is  the 
flowering  of  human  life.  And  it  is  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity that  our  ethical  age  most  needs.     The  individu- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  171 

alistic  trend  needs  to  be  checked  by  the  spirit  of  human 
brotherhood.  In  short,  the  moral  sense  needs  at  all 
times  to  be  fortified  by  the  stren^h  of  true  religion. 


A  PLEA  FOR  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 

The  expansion  of  a  nation's  commerce  is  the  sub- 
stantial surety  of  its  strength.  There  is  no  truth  in 
the  life  of  nations  more  fundamental  than  this,  for  the 
sea  is  the  world's  great  medium  of  circulation,  and 
commerce  is  alike  the  harbinger  of  civilization  and 
the  carrier  of  Christianity. 

Nations,  like  individuals,  have  epochs  in  their  his- 
tory in  which  some  prevailing  influence  molds  and 
dominates  the  character  of  its  people  and  its  time.  The 
American  nation  has  passed  through  its  purely  reli- 
gious and  political  stages.  The  age  of  material  activity 
— 'the  age  of  commerce,  has  come,  ushered  in  by  the 
force  of  tireless  energy  and  the  audacity  of  inventive 
genius. 

In  the  pathway  of  nations,  America  stands  situated 
within  the  Temperate  Zone  and  fortified  by  a  vast  con- 
tiguous territory.  Endowed  by  the  unequaled  re- 
sources of  a  wonderful  land,  and  guided  by  the  intense 
energy  and  genius  of  the  American  race,  this  nation  is 
presented  with  the  auspicious  opportunity  of  indus- 
trial and  material  ascendency. 

Even  as  a  stripling  nation  we  startled  the  world  by 
our  glorious  exploits  at  sea ;  but  with  the  lapse  of  years 
the  ships  that  once  carried  our  flag  in  triumph  upon 
every  sea  were  swept  from  mart  and  main.  And  thus 
our  energies  became  absorbed  in  the  development  of  a 
vast  system  of  domestic  industry. 


172  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

In  pursuance  of  this  policy  we  have  overspread  the 
continent  and  come  to  the  "sea-mark  of  our  utmost 
soil."  In  our  infancy  we  bordered  upon  the  Atlantic 
only;  youth  carried  our  boundary  to  the  Gulf;  today 
maturity  sees  us  upon  the  Pacific.  A  magnificent  sys- 
tem of  river,  lake,  and  gulf  has  been  strengthened  by 
an  artificial  network  of  railway,  canal,  and  harbor. 
In  every  quarter  beautiful  cities  grace  our  land — rare 
trophies  in  the  lap  of  Columbian  conquest. 

As  the  inevitable  consequence  of  national  growth 
and  territorial  extension,  it  is  manifestly  important  to 
look  forth  beyond  the  sea-horizon  to  those  dangers 
that  hedge  us  in,  and  to  those  interests  fraught  with 
vital  import. 

To  place  American  commerce  upon  a  footing  of 
assured  and  permanent  supremacy,  three  great  achieve- 
ments must  be  accomplished — the  construction  of  the 
great  inter-oceanic  canal  at  Nicaragua,  the  secure  con- 
trol of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  the  adoption  of  a 
foreign  policy  tending  towards  free  trade. 

For  years  it  has  been  recognized  that  the  severance 
of  the  American  isthmus  would  be  a  masterstroke  for 
international  commerce  and  of  countless  value  to  the 
controlling  country,  and  yet  the  passive  policy  of 
America  has  staved  it  off  until  the  prize  lies  ready  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  an  alien  power.  The  demands 
of  our  three  great  seaboards,  each  for  itself  and  all  for 
the  strength  that  comes  from  unity,  call  for  its  comple- 
tion under  the  auspices  and  control  of  the  American 
people.  Such  a  measure,  requiring  a  cost  less  than  is 
usually  paid  to  pensioners,  would  soon  render  this 
country  the  workshop  and  clearing  house  of  the  world. 
Since  the  Isthmian  canal  may  and  must  become  the 
Gibraltar  of  the  United  States,  affecting  most  vitally 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  173 

every  interest  of  our  common  land,  it  should  be  dis- 
tinctly an  American  enterprise.  It  must  be  the  first 
practical  and  substantial  assertion  of  the  boasted  doc- 
trine of  Monroe,  hitherto  a  mere  dogma  in  American 
policy,  at  once  knitting  more  and  more  closely  the 
Union  with  our  sister  repubhcs  and  establishing  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  Americas. 

Intimately  associated  in  importance  with  the  canal  is 
the  control  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Confronting  the 
gigantic  sweep  and  stress  of  commercial  and  political 
currents  that  are  gathered  around  Hawaii  is  the  strate- 
gic point  that  means  military  and  commercial  control 
of  the  Pacific.  When  our  great  western  domain  shall 
be  developed  and  when  the  Pacific  shall  become  the 
highway  of  the  trade  and  travel  of  the  earth,  the  "Par- 
adise of  the  Pacific,"  unique  in  the  possession  of  soli- 
tary significance  and  guarding,  like  a  lone  sentinel,  the 
converging  lines  of  a  world-wide  trade,  will  excite  the 
envy  and  admiration  of  nations  as  the  single  key  that 
unlocks  the  Golden  Gate — the  entrance  to  the  treasure 
of  the  ages. 

The  perfection  of  our  commercial  success  cannot  be 
fully  attained  until  the  shackles  of  the  tariff  are 
stricken  from  the  limbs  of  industry  and  confidence  in 
the  freedom  of  interchange  shall  flow  throughout  the 
veins  of  trade.  The  Chinese  wall  of  exclusive  protec- 
tion stands  as  the  fossilized  remains  of  war ;  the  swad- 
dling clothes  of  infancy  about  the  loins  of  man;  a  cal- 
lous galling  excrescence  on  the  policy  of  free  America. 
If  we  have  prospered,  it  is  because  of  the  indomitable 
energy  of  American  genius  working  amid  an  exhaust- 
less  treasure  of  resources ;  it  is  because  the  sovereign 
States  of  this  Union  have  enjoyed  that  freedom  of 
trade  denied  the  outside  world. 


174  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

There  are  certain  natural  tendencies  embedded  in  the 
constitution  of  humanity  which  are  as  inviolable  as 
the  most  sacred  relation  of  God  and  man.  As  long  as 
human  want  remains  universal,  so  long  will  it  be  to 
the  interest  of  mankind  to  buy  in  the  cheapest  and  sell 
in  the  dearest  market ;  the  prices  of  products  will  ever 
be  regulated  by  supply  and  demand ;  and  the  more 
freedom  is  given  to  trade,  the  more  splendid  will  be  its 
attendant  results.  Where  amongst  protective  nations 
is  the  parallel  of  England,  the  only  champion  of  the 
seas?  Faithful  to  the  principles  of  freedom,  she  has 
circled  the  globe  with  the  swelhng  tide  of  her  power 
and  civilization.  Recognizing  the  justice  of  natural, 
economic  law,  she  has  become  queen  of  commerce, 
mistress  of  the  seas,  and  creditor-in-chief  of  the  human 
race.  Had  Trafalgar  or  Blenheim  never  been  fought, 
her  policy  of  free  trade  would  have  wrought  for  her, 
by  the  pure  and  shining  agencies  of  peace,  the  fair 
fabric  of  her  wondrous  dominion. 

The  law  of  development  demands  that  w^e  should 
trade  freely  with  every  land.  The  production  of  our 
rich  and  ample  plains  has  already  outstripped  its  con- 
sumption. However  diversified  our  industries,  we  are 
largely  dependent  upon  the  exchange  of  our  surplus 
for  that  of  other  lands. 

Fortunate  for  America  and  world  interests  at  large 
would  be  the  results  attendant  upon  the  union  of  the 
English  race  in  establishing  the  freedom  of  trade,  as 
they  have  accomplished  the  freedom  of  man.  By  such 
a  policy  the  inferior  states  of  earth  would  sooner  or 
later  be  forced  to  adopt  a  like  course  and  the  ieavening 
intercourse  of  free  exchange,  carrying  in  its  train  the 
enlightenment  and  liberty  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  would 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  175 

give  an  impetus  to  world-comity  and  international 
peace  greater  than  the  centuries  have  yet  brought  forth. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  American  commerce 
has  come  to  an  imminent  crisis.  There  is  a  call  for  a 
change  of  our  passive  policy  into  one  of  action,  seizing 
the  fetlock  of  time,  accepting  the  gracious  advantages 
of  opportunity  and  opening  wide  every  outlet  to  the 
commercial  activity  of  our  people. 

Without  this,  European  interests  will  seize  the 
points  of  greatest  future  importance  to  our  safety  and 
commercial  career.  Without  this,  our  surplus  will 
soon  roll  back  from  the  coast  upon  the  interior,  and 
the  wheels  of  prosperity  will  be  clogged  by  the  richness 
of  the  burden  they  bear.  Not  a  change  of  administra- 
tion, not  the  coinage  of  silver,  not  the  repudiation  of 
national  obligations,  but  a  market  for  our  products, 
labor  for  the  idle,  bread  for  the  hungry — these  are  the 
demands  of  a  suffering  people  that  struggle  for  utter- 
ance through  Coxey's  Commonweal  and  a  thousand 
other  mutter ings  that  announce  the  coming  of  the 
storm. 

Our  own  beloved  Vance,  battling  against  foes  hid- 
den and  foes  declared,  sprung  from  the  loins  of  a 
sturdy  race,  and  feeling  the  aspirations  of  his  people 
pulsating  through  his  own  true  heart,  for  these  years 
has  expressed  their  wishes  for  the  emancipation  of 
labor  and  the  extension  of  American  trade. 

On  the  one  'hand  are  seen  the  ruinous  results  of  pro- 
crastination, on  the  other  the  splendid  reward  of  com- 
mercial expansion.  It  is  a  question  demanding  an  im- 
mediate answer,  a  crisis  foreshadowing  with  remark- 
able clearness  the  sequence  of  either  course.  "Least 
of  all  nations  can  America  prepare  a  table  for  chance 
or  furnish  a  drink  offering  for  destiny." 


176  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

The  Doge  of  Venice,  dwelling  in  palaces  and  cele- 
brating every  year  with  gala-day  and  wedding  ring  his 
nuptials  with  the  sea,  a  beautiful  bride,  who  has 
brought  him  a  dower  of  exhaustless  wealth,  is  a  beauti- 
ful symbol  of  a  great  material  truth.  Rightly  consid- 
ered, it  is  nothing  wonderful  that  the  Ancients  with 
shout  and  revel  worshiped  Neptune,  whose  trident  shook 
the  sea.  With  less  superstition  and  more  appreciation 
let  us  learn  the  lessons  they  teach  and  make  the  ele- 
ments, which  they  worshiped,  the  servants  of  our  will. 
Give  us  back  the  sea,  that  "vast  expanse  which  sepa- 
rates the  jurisdiction  of  nations,  the  grand  reservation 
of  God  on  our  planet,  wherein  no  thieving  laws  of 
human  cunning  can  hide,  but  which  acknowledges  only 
those  laws  that  regulate  the  surging  of  its  billows  and 
the  solitude  of  its  awful  depths."  It  is  our  heritage, 
sanctified  by  the  blood  and  fortified  by  the  heroism  of 
our  fathers;  it  is  ours  by  the  divine  direction  of  des- 
tiny, "ours  and  our  children's  forever." 

Then  let  us  strive  with  unwavering  loyalty  for  the 
true  production  of  American  industry  and  the  unselfish 
guardianship  of  American  commerce.  The  changeless 
law  of  cause  and  efifect  applies  to  the  realm  of  human 
action  as  well  as  to  the  sphere  of  physical  force.  The 
mercantile  spirit,  bearing  the  olive  branch  of  peace,  as 
it  pervades  every  clime,  is  the  iconoclast  who  builds 
upon  the  overthrown  creeds  of  barbarism  the  beauteous 
temple  of  art  and  civilization. 

Industry  with  the  restless  rhythm  of  its  tireless  spin- 
dles, brings  with  a  bounteous  benevolence  an  opulent 
offering  to  the  relief  of  human  want.  Commerce 
flecks  the  seas  with  its  white-winged  carrier-doves  of 
liberty  and  law,  and  sends  its  messengers  of  peace  by 
every  line.     They  are  the  essential  elements  of  national 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  177 

weal  and  the  evangels  that  announce  the  doom  of  war- 
ring wretchedness  and  the  enthronement  of  a  people's 
hopes. 


INTER-SOCIETY  DEBATE-PARTY 
ORGANIZATION 

FIRST  SPEECH. 

The  American  government  claims  to  rest  on  the  suf- 
frage of  freemen.  The  citizens  of  this  Republic,  exer- 
cising their  right  of  suffrage,  have  evolved  our 
National  political  parties,  as  the  means  to  the  end  of 
government.  This,  we  grant,  is  right,  for  it  is  natu- 
ral. The  fundamental  differences  of  human  nature 
are  legitimate  excuses  for  the  divisions  of  men,  but  the 
necessary  existence  of  parties  does  not  prove  that  there 
is  inherent  virtue  in  all  the  developments  that  party 
organization  may  assume. 

Since  suffrage  is  the  source  of  popular  government, 
the  nature  of  the  government  will  naturally  be  accord- 
ing to  that  of  the  suffrage.  Whatever,  therefore,  tends 
to  lower  the  standard  of  the  suffrage,  or  to  thwart  its 
true  expression,  cannot  be  for  the  nation's  good,  as  it 
must  express  itself  in  corrupt  and  vicious  government. 

Let  us  see,  then,  what  the  rigidly  organized  party  is 
and  whether  it  tends  to  the  good  of  our  suffrage,  our 
government,  and  our  people. 

Edmund  Burke,  the  great  English  statesman  and 
thinker,  defines  political  party  as  "an  association  of 
men  united  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  by  their  joint 
efforts  the  public  welfare  upon  principles  about  which 
they  agree."  "Rigidly  organized"  is  defined  as  "inflex- 
ibly constructed."  A  rigid  organization  is  a  structure 
formed    with   exactness   and    without   allowance.     In 


12 


178  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

short,  it  is  a  mechanism,  a  machine.     Its  rigidity  ren- 
ders it  practically  lifeless,  save  as  it  is  manipulated  by 
a  skilled  professional.     It  is  a  fossilized  form,  an  ossi- 
fied organism,  whose  rigidity  of  structure  forbids  pro- 
gressive change,  growth,  or  development  within  itself. 
The  particular  principle,  of  which  Burke  speaks,  as 
giving  rise  to  party,  will  in  time  be  settled.     What  is 
there,  then,  to  render  the  bond  of  organization  rational 
or  moral  ?     The  connection  can  only  be  held,  more  or 
less,  by  the  common  desire  of  the  pelf  and  power  of 
politics.     Born  of  the  love  of  power,  party  becomes 
an  end  in  itself,  uses  its  acquired  strength  to  make  its 
organization  more  rigid,  in  short,  it  becomes  a  machine 
maintained  either  by  mere  personal  association  or  by 
motives  and  influences  more  or  less  corrupt.     When 
once  in  power,  parties  will  at  times  sacrifice  the  very 
principles  that  caused  their  triumph,  betray  the  watch- 
word of  their  existence,  and  descend  to  a  base  conten- 
tion over  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office.     Un- 
less some  great  question  exists  to  justify  its  living, 
party  can  be  naught  but  a  fine  name  for  faction,  whose 
ties  are  passion  and  corruption  and  whose  results  are 
ever  the   wreck   and   ruin   of   commonwealths.     Like 
Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  the  devouring  wolves  of  Italian 
liberty,  the  fossilized  forms  of  intrenched  parties  fight 
for  self-existence  at  the  peril  of  the  country's  Hfe. 

One  hundred  years  of  hard  practical  experience 
have  served  to  work  out  and  establish  for  us  certain 
political  facts,  clearly  indicative  of  the  evils  of  party 
spirit  and  rigid  partisanship.  We  are  just  beginning 
to  witness  the  worst  results  of  that  unbridled  party 
spirit,  which  Washington  anticipated  with  fear  and 
DeTocqueville  shrewdly  guessed. 

As  party  organization  becomes  more  rigid  and  com- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  179 

plex,  the  more  skill  and  service  are  requisite  for  its 
guidance.  To  secure  this  skilfull  service,  money  and 
office  must  needs  be  offered  as  substantial  rewards,  and 
thus  the  professional  politician  is  evolved,  whose  duty 
is  constant  party  loyalty  and  whose  business  is  con- 
stant partisan  work.  He  need  not  be  cultivated  or 
experienced  in  the  gre^t  questions  on  which  politics 
and  legislation  are  based,  but  he  must  be  adapted  to 
party  service  and  his  soul  be  animated  by  partisan  zeal. 
He  holds  his  position  by  the  pledge  of  party  loyalty 
and  the  promise  of  party  service.  Thus  from  post- 
master to  president  we  are  ruled  by  an  organized  body 
of  officeseekers,  the  political  janizaries  of  a  free  repub- 
lic. Andrew  Jackson  builded  worse  than  he  knew 
when  he  instituted  the  riotous  spoils  system  and  fet- 
tered our  government  with  a  feudalism,  founded  on 
political  reward  for  party  service.  It  is  the  system 
that  delights  the  demagogue,  who,  "high  above  consid- 
erations of  state  and  people  lifts  the  pirate  flag  of  sel- 
fishness and  rallies  to  his  standard  the  worst  and 
weakest  of  'his  race."  He  is  the  antithesis  of  patriot- 
ism, the  incarnation  of  selfishness,  the  tmholy  target 
of  civic  scorn,  a  pubhcist  without  a  principle,  a  citizen 
without  an  anchor  in  the  truth. 

The  multiplicity  and  frequency  of  contests  render 
public  life  too  absorbing  for  the  most  worthy  and  com- 
petent citizens,  who  have  private  occupations  to  pur- 
sue. By  the  force  of  necessity  they  must  either  desert 
politics  and  follow  their  individual  professions,  or 
change  them  to  that  of  the  politician.  Skilled  profes- 
sionals bar  our  best  men  from  political  life,  and  con- 
scious honor  quails  before  partisan  intrigue,  like  Chris- 
tian before  the  Slough  of  Despond,  until  men  of  integ- 
rity turn  in  disgust  away  to  the  purer  pursuits  of  hon- 


180  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

est  men.  Is  this  a  condition  for  congratulation? 
Politics  ought  to  mean  the  honorable  contention  of 
patriotic  citizens,  but  how  often  we  hear  the  exclama- 
tion, "Politics  is  rotten" — a  statement  too  sadly  true. 
It  is  a  struggle  for  existence,  in  which  the  conditions 
of  environment  cause  the  survival  of  the  most  perfect 
demagogue. 

Thus  partisan  rule  removes  from  out  the  people's 
hands  the  power  which  is  their  rightful  heritage.  The 
removal  of  the  best  men  from  politics  and  the  aban- 
donment of  government  to  the  politician  tend  to  center 
all  substantial  power  in  evil  hands  and  unclothe  the 
citizen  of  his  boasted  sovereignty.  The  politician  be- 
gins with  the  primary,  and  his  skillful  manipulation 
extends  to  the  federal  Congress.  Election  becomes 
merged  in  nomination,  except  in  rare  instances  of  ex- 
citement, and  nomination  is  nearly  always  the  work 
of  the  politician.  "The  first  thing,"  said  Alexander 
Hamilton,  "in  all  great  operations  of  such  a  govern- 
ment as  ours,  is  to  secure  the  opinion  of  the  people." 
Under  machine  rule,  in  reality,  however,  at  least  nine- 
tenths  of  our  citizens  are  under  the  subjugation  of  the 
remaining  tenth.  Removed  as  the  great  mass  of  voters 
are  from  close  political  life,  the  real  power  resides 
with  a  small  faction  of  our  citizens,  and  for  its  pos- 
session the  machine  is  worked  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
We  have  a  government  by  parties,  democratic  in  form, 
though  actually  savoring  of  some  of  the  worst  features 
of  oligarchy. 

Rigid  organizations  prevent  freedom  of  thought  and 
expression  by  the  individual  and  by  the  people.  Rigid- 
ity ever  cramps  thought  and  expression ;  it  is  the  open 
opponent  of  progress,  and  progress  means  independ- 
ence.    The  military  discipline  of  party  life,  intolerant 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  181 

of  independent  action,  checks  the  expression  of  honest 
disapproval  and  lashes  unwillingness  into  servile  acqui- 
escence. What  the  Roman  client  was  to  his  patron, 
what  the  mediaeval  vassal  was  to  his  lord,  that  the  mod- 
ern American  politician  is  to  his  boss,  who  sits  like  a 
spider  within  his  web  and  weaves  the  snare  for  liberty. 
The  election  of  President  by  electors  has  come  to  be  a 
farce.  Men  consult  their  prejudices  more  than  their 
reasons  and  leave  their  political  thinking  to  the  poli- 
tician, whose  conclusions  are  usually  formed  on  the 
selfish  consideration  of  party.  The  political  machine 
is  a  magnificent  mechanism  whose  precision  and  ease 
would  delight  the  soul  of  Archimedes.  But  its  rigidity 
of  structure  alike  stifles  discussion,  fosters  intrigue, 
depresses  talent,  elevates  mediocrity,  and  crushes  all 
spontaneity  out  of  civic  life.  It  reduces  the  vigorous, 
healthy,  buoyant  action  of  freemen  to  the  base  preci- 
sion of  mathematical  factors.  The  defense  of  supreme 
and  continuous  party  allegiance  rests  only  on  the  as- 
sumption of  the  all-sufficiency  of  a  chosen  party  for 
the  performance  of  civic  duties —  a  principle  that 
forced  the  despotism  of  the  Church  hierarchy  in  the 
domain  of  religion.  We  have  apparently  transferred 
the  superstition  of  divine  right  from  the  English  king 
to  the  American  party,  and  the  fallacy  is  just  as  decep- 
tive to  us  as  to  the  subjects  of  James  Stuart.  This 
surrender  of  individuality  dismantles  the  human  judg- 
ment of  its  regal  crown  of  authority  and  declares  en- 
franchised citizens  to  be  as  political  cattle  in  the  sham- 
bles of  partisan  contention.  It  narrows  the  mind  and 
ossifies  the  conscience,  it  places  the  partisan  above  the 
patriot,  the  voter  above  the  man — a  pungent  paradox 
in  this  boasted  democracy  of  free  institutions. 

Machine  politics  prevent  the  efficient  administration 


182  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

of  public  affairs.  When  the  rigid  demands  of  party- 
press  partisan  service  for  official  station,  the  public 
service  will  be  conducted  with  partisan  instead  of  with 
patriotic  motives.  Men  then  minimize  the  public  good 
in  sacrifice  to  party  advantage,  neglect  the  interests  of 
country,  and  insincerity  readily  ripens  into  cynicism. 
Congressmen  are  forced  to  waste  their  time  to  secure 
party  appointments,  and  thus  ignore  the  pressing 
duties  of  statecraft.  President  Garfield  is  authority 
for  the  fact  that  one-third  of  a  Congressman's  work- 
ing time  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of 
party.  Such  partisan  prostitution  of  the  public  ser- 
vice, as  is  seen  in  the  spoils  system,  is  radical  treachery 
to  popular  government,  because  it  makes  private  inter- 
est and  not  the  public  welfare  the  motive  of  filial  ac- 
tion. The  crying  evils  of  administration  are  directly 
traceable  to  the  rigidity  of  party,  whose  wanton  ex- 
cuses exhort  the  people's  honesty  to  cleanse  these 
Augean  stables  of  the  civil  service  and  give  to  spoils- 
men the  warning  of  their  death  warrant. 

As  parties  become  more  complex  and  mechanical, 
they  cease  to  be  actuated  by  great  living  principles  and 
policies.  The  party  platform  is  a  skillfully  framed 
figurehead,  advanced  to  catch  voters,  a  miserable  ruse 
for  the  unthinking,  a  bald  excuse  for  existence.  Its 
planks  are  often  too  rotten  to  bear  the  weight  of  hon- 
est men.  Availability  of  man  or  measure  almost  inva- 
riably is  the  determining  factor  in  party  selection,  in 
the  face  of  the  demands  of  duty.  For  twenty-five 
years  New  York  and  the  other  pivotal  States  have 
been  placated  by  candidates,  while  the  South  has  not 
had  a  President  since  Andrew  Johnson,  because  of  the 
sectionalism  bred  of  party.  The  quadrennial  mani- 
festoes of  party  conventions  have  come  to  consist  of 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  183 

platitudes  on  dead  or  dying  issues,  while  the  great 
questions  of  immigration,  labor,  and  finance  are  a 
history  of  vacillation  between  national  welfare  and 
some  local  or  personal  interest  that  party  courts  or 
fears.  Party  tactics  obstruct  attempted  legislation, 
and  the  people  pay  for  deadlocks  and  filibuster.  Today 
the  country  demands  a  definite  action  on  the  financial 
question,  but  party  spirit  prevents  a  free  deliberation 
and  an  honest  agreement.  One  party  expends  enough 
government  money  on  army  pensions  to  create  a  mag- 
nificent navy,  so  intense  has  party  spirit  become  to  the 
oblivion  of  the  country's  needs.  Such  rigid  selfishness 
has  never  wrought  great  reform.  The  slave  was  freed 
by  the  independent  action  of  party  formation,  and 
Bright  and  Cobden  repealed  England's  corn  laws  in 
defiance  of  existing  parties.  Our  two  great  parties  are 
mere  political  armies  fighting  with  ballots  instead  of 
bullets.  They  are  the  Prsetorian  guards  of  America, 
who  have  outlived  their  wonted  mission  and  now  fight 
in  furious  faction  for  the  despotic  tyrrany  of  the 
nation.  If  such  conditions  can  promote  the  people's 
welfare,  then  surely  liberty  is  a  refugee  from  home 
and  freedom  a  stranger  within  our  gates. 

This  system  of  partisan  rigidity  corrupts  official  ac- 
tion and  pollutes  the  whole  realm  of  politics.  When- 
ever the  demands  of  personal  and  party  interest  be- 
come stronger  than  duty  to  country,  as  we  hold  it  does 
in  machine  government,  public  office  is  no  longer  con- 
sidered as  a  public  trust,  but  rather  as  a  political  advan- 
tage for  partisan  purposes.  Thus  great  monopolies 
and  trusts  have  arisen,  fostered  as  they  are  by  partisan 
legislation  in  reward  for  liberal  campaign  funds  and 
bountiful  favors  to  the  machine  ring.     The  cohesive 


184  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

force  and  power  of  the  machine  become  the  desire  for 
office  and  office  as  a  means  of  gain. 

The  Boss  of  the  ring  holds  his  tenure  simply  as  a 
bestower  of  riches,  but  little  better  than  a  leader  of  a 
band  of  condattieri  of  the  15th  century.  Log-rolling 
in  Congress  is  a  commonplace,  and  party  leaders  "smile 
at  election  pledges  as  the  gods  smile  at  lovers'  vows." 

Scandals  become  shamefully  prevalent  in  our  great 
cities  wdiere  the  public  till  is  exhausted  by  robbery,  and 
accounts  are  systematically  cooked  to  conceal  the  thefts. 
Every  election  sees  the  expenditure  of  vast  sums  of 
money,  often  from  the  people's  treasury,  spent  like 
Dudley's  "blocks  of  five,"  in  all  pivotal  States,  where 
money  turns  the  scale.  Even  our  judiciary  is  contami- 
nated by  this  deadly  partisanship  and  the  Dred  Scott 
Decision,  the  Legal  Tender  Cases,  and  the  Electoral 
Commission  of  '77  attest  its  wanton  results.  Since 
'65  party  affiliation  has  been  the  prime  requisite  for 
judicial  appointment  and  consequently  states,  commu- 
nities, and  individuals  have  been  terrorized  to  carry 
elections  and  decrees  of  disbandment  issued  to  Legisla- 
tures and  Army  and  Navy  summoned  to  organize 
others.  One  hundred  years  ago  the  English  king 
bought  votes  in  Parliament ;  today  the  American  parti- 
san buys  votes  at  the  polls.  Americans  are  becoming 
proverbial  gamblers  and  political  prostitution  is  the 
common  crime  of  parties,  the  common  disgrace  of  the 
national  name,  the  common  danger  to  American  insti- 
tutions and  the  common  reproach  to  American  citizen- 
ship. Thus  a  partisan  government  puts  a  price  upon 
public  spirit,  degrades  and  demoralizes  the  national 
character  and  invites  the  people  to  measure  all  action 
by  the  venal  value  of  money. 

Tammany  Hall  is  the  mirror  in  which  we  see  the 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  185 

clearest  reflection  of  the  riotous  results  of  machine 
politics.  It  is  the  American  Jacobin  Club,  and  the 
incarnation  of  more  evil  than  we  have  yet  suggested. 
Organization  and  not  Education,  Success  and  not  Im- 
provement, victorious  war  and  not  glorious  peace — 
these  are  the  supreme  aims  of  Tammany.  With  it 
office  is  a  commodity  and  not  a  trust.  Its  leaders  have 
ever  been  the  most  consummate  rascals,  whose  infa- 
mies have  filled  two  continents  with  the  disgrace  of  the 
Republic.  It  has  never  produced  a  statesman,  a  pa- 
triot, or  a  public  benefactor.  It  boasts  of  no  law,  pub- 
lic measure,  or  policy  that  history  can  record  with 
pride.  For  a  generation  its  sphere  has  been  one  of 
moral  and  intellectual  barrenness.  Like  its  nominal 
aborigines,  it  dons  the  paint  of  battle  with  the  savage 
hope  of  reaping  scalps  and  the  mercenary  motive  of 
gathering  booty.  It  corrupts  a  whole  municipality;  it 
poisons  the  politics  of  our  leading  State.  Last  fall's 
defeat  meant  only  the  ascendancy  of  Piatt's  machine, 
and  both  would  rather  vie  in  civic  corruption  and 
vicious  methods  than  in  patriotic  honesty  and  manly 
rivalry.  Not  only  New  York,  but  most  of  our  great 
cities  are  the  pitiable  victims  of  machine  rule.  The 
American  city  is  rapidly  growing  into  dominance,  and 
the  character  of  its  government  means  largely  that  of 
our  national  administration.  Righteous  indignation 
rises  at  the  sight  of  these  dens  of  desperation,  hatch- 
ing gruesome  plots,  wherein  illicit  graft,  a  worse  than 
Punic  faith  and  infidelity  to  the  most  sacred  trusts  in 
the  most  exalted  stations,  fill  the  whole  government 
with  the  pollution  of  their  guilty  presence.  These  are 
the  conditions  that  accompany  the  unyielding  tenure 
of  party  power.  The  time  is  ready  for  the  rising  of 
some  political  Christ,  endowed  with  the  inherent  Di- 


186  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

vinity  of  might  and  manhood  to  thrust  from  the  tem- 
ples of  government  these  barterers  in  citizenship  and 
defamers  of  popular  freedom. 

SECOND  SPEECH. 

The  need  of  party  existence  and  even  of  organiza- 
tion have  been  conceded.  But  we  do  declare  the  evil 
of  rigidly  organized  parties.  The  question  is  one  of 
degree ;  it  is  whether  progress,  growth,  and  expansion 
through  reform,  are  conducive  to  the  popular  welfare. 
It  is  a  question  of  progression  or  retrogression,  of  evo- 
lution or  devolution,  we  might  almost  add,  of  life  or 
death. 

It  is  not  so  much  organized  conflict  that  formulates 
the  truth;  it  is  the  tolerance  of  concession,  the  synthe- 
sis of  sincere  conference,  and  a  conflict,  if  there  must 
be  one,  of  thought  independent  and  progressive.  Not 
the  passionate  conflict  of  individuals  in  a  struggle  for 
place,  but  a  co-operative  competition  in  the  value  of 
ideas :  this  is  the  test  and  crucible  of  truth.  Thus  we 
may  trace  the  thread  of  progress  throughout  the  fabric 
of  history;  it  begins  without  the  woven  forms  of  insti- 
tutions and  gathers  to  itself  the  vesture  of  command- 
ing power.  It  begins  in  the  insignificant  and  martyred 
minority ;  it  finds  durable  expression  by  persuading 
the  majority.  Thus  it  is  a  growth,  an  adaptation  of 
existing  conditions  to  expanding  thought,  and  nothing 
is  so  revolutionary,  because  so  unnatural  as  to  attempt 
the  preservation  of  institutions  unchanged,  while  "all 
the  world  by  the  very  law  of  its  creation  is  in  eternal 
progress."  Do  you  think  machine  politics  would  have 
produced  the  American  Constitution,  repealed  Eng- 
land's corn  laws,  or  will  give  Ireland  Home  Rule? 
The  element  of  concession,  or  rational  thought,  and 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  187 

independent  action,  must  ever  soften  the  asperities  of 
manly  conflict  and  grant  to  all  the  tolerance  of  unfet- 
tered opinion. 

But  on  the  contrary  we  see  the  selfish  demands  of 
partisanship  dominated  by  party  spirit,  that  "frenzy 
which  imbrutes  the  soul ;"  we  see  it  struggling  for  self, 
regardless  of  national  stability  or  the  survival  of  the 
Republic. 

If  'this  condition  continues,  there  is  a  coming  crisis, 
when  some  vital  question  will  madden  the  minority  to 
resist  submission.  Should  that  minority  be  almost  as 
strong  as  the  majority,  with  kinsman  ranged  versus 
kinsman  and  neighbor  versus  neighbor,  a  civil  war 
more  horrible  than  we  have  yet  known,  may  rend  the 
nation  in  fragments.  The  republics  of  South  America 
are  suggestive  object  lessons,  and  three  decades  have 
hardly  healed  the  disasters  of  our  Civil  War.  In  '76 
we  barely  escaped  the  crisis  of  war,  whose  cause  was  a 
maddened  partisanship,  and  whose  repetition  would 
enshroud  the  nation  with  flames  of  embittered  pas- 
sion and  the  smoke  of  intensified  terror. 

Hear  the  ominous  words  of  Daniel  Webster  in  the 
Declaration  of  Whig  principles  in  1840:  "Party  Spirit, 
when  it  gains  svich  an  ascendancy  in  men's  minds  as 
leads  them  to  substitute  party  for  country,  to  seek  no 
ends  but  party  ends,  no  approbation  but  party  approba- 
tion, and  to  fear  no  reproach  or  contumely,  so  that 
there  be  no  party  dissatisfaction,  not  only  alloys  the 
true  enjoyment  of  our  institutions,  but  weakens  every 
day  the  foundations  on  which  they  stand." 

The  problem  of  party  remains  to  be  fully  solved. 
The  delicate  balance  must  be  worked  out  whereby  the 
vote  can  be  concentrated  and  yet  the  independence  of 
the  voter  preserved.     David  Dudley  Field  said  "it  is 


188  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

solved  only  when  we  have  a  fair  representation  of  vot- 
ers in  the  selection  of  candidates,  followed  by  a  fair 
election  from  among  the  selected."  I  submit  to  you 
the  question,  if  any  of  these  conditions  are  appreciably 
effected  under  the  rigid  rule  of  parties. 

The  utility  of  the  true  conception  of  party  appears 
to  depend  on  certain  conditions:  1.  The  tendency  of 
its  principles  to  advance  the  welfare  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple. 2.  The  faithful  support  of  these  principles  by 
the  party  itself.  3.  The  nomination  of  the  most  wor- 
thy for  office.  These  conditions,  we  claim,  are  partly 
or  wholly  violated  by  the  rigidly  organized  party,  and 
the  result  shows  the  degradation  of  national  character 
and  the  disgrace  of  popular  suffrage.  To  sustain  our 
position  we  have  advanced  the  following  points : 

1.  Rigidly  organized  partisan  party  creates  a  privi- 
leged class — 'the  politician. 

2.  Tears  the  best  men  from  political  life. 

3.  RertKoves  power  from  the  people. 

4.  Destroys  individual  and  popular  freedom  of 
thought  and  expression. 

5.  Destroys  official  responsibility  and  efficient  ad- 
ministration. 

6.  Is  actuated  by  personal  and  selfish  aims,  and 
not  by  great  principles. 

7.  Tends  to  corrupt  our  whole  political  life. 

The  affirmative  have  failed  to  disprove  these  facts. 
They  evade  us  by  demanding  a  substitute  for  a  system 
we  would  condemn.  It  is  not  our  province  tonight  to 
devise  public  policies.  We  are  discussing  the  point  of 
good  or  evil  in  machine  politics,  and  we  claim  that  our 
position  stands  unshaken. 

We  would  have  you  consider  that,  under  the  condi- 
tions bred  by  rigid  party,  instead  of  remaining  a  means 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  189 

to  good  government  the  party  becomes  an  end  in  itself, 
an  impcrium  in  imperio.  Principles  become  lost  in 
parties,  peanut  politics  retires  statesmanship,  and  the 
servile  worshiper  and  obedient  follower  are  wrought 
into  enthusiasm  by  the  cognomens  of  party  parapher- 
nalia. T'he  significance  of  the  symbol  is  lost  in  the 
passion  of  the  hour.  Spirit  yields  to  dominant  form 
and  the  partisan,  in  political  fanaticism,  pays  even 
more  devoted  homage  to  his  idols,  than  the  Catholic 
before  the  cross  or  the  African  before  his  fetich. 

Party,  with  all  its  rigidity  and  complexity,  deadens 
the  nobility  of  the  citizen  and  makes  him  a  mechanical 
servant.  Its  spirit  becomes  a  deadly  narcotic.  Its 
effect  a  vicious  and  fatal  malady. 

It  needs  not  the  violation  of  a  letter  of  our  Constitu- 
tion for  the  strong  hand  of  some  American  Augustus 
to  concentrate  through  party  power  the  people's  gov- 
ernment into  a  grinding  monarchy.  The  redeeming 
hope,  if  there  is  one,  lies  in  the  genius  of  our  race,  in 
the  public  spirit  of  the  citizen.  Public  as  well  as  pri- 
vate morals  must  be  recognized  as  forces  in  national 
life,  and  the  Decalogue  and  Golden  Rule  be  potential 
factors  in  politics,  Jno.  J.  Ingalls,  notwithstanding. 

The  hope  of  the  nation  is  in  the  party  of  principles, 
the  one  that  looks  to  the  dawn (Incomplete). 


DANGERS  OF  CENTRALIZATION 

FIRST  SPEECH. 

The  American  Union,  resting  upon  its  Constitution 
as  the  pledge  and  instrument  of  unity,  is  distinctively 
a  federal  republic,  a  republic  of  republics.  The  whole 
history  of  our  national  evolution,  through  colony  fed- 


190  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

eration  and  constitution,  is  but  a  gradual  unfolding  of 
this  basal  idea,  of  this  vital  principle  of  federalism. 
The  confederation  signifying  on  its  face  the  fact  of 
federation,  began  with  the  declaration  that : 

"Each  State  retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and 
independence,  and  every  power,  jurisdiction  and  right 
which  is  not  by  this  confederation  expressly  delegated 
to  the  U.  S.  in  Congress  assembled." 

The  Constitution,  builded  on  the  confederation,  pro- 
vided not  that  all  legislative  powers,^ but  that  "all  legis- 
lative powers  herein  granted"  should  be  vested  in  Con- 
gress. These  powers  are  carefully  enumerated  under 
17  distinct  heads,  and  the  election  of  President  and 
Senators  is  fixed  on  the  basis  of  the  sovereign  States. 
Furthermore,  the  first  Congress  more  clearly  defined 
the  National  powers  in  ten  amendments,  the  last  of 
which  dclares  that : 

"The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  U.  S.  by  the  Con- 
stitution, nor  prohibited  to  it  by  the  States,  are  re- 
served to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people." 

Thus  the  highest  authority  declares  that  the  Consti- 
tution is  federative  in  the  power  which  framed  it, 
adopted,  and  ratified  it,  and  which  sustains  and 
strengthens  it.  It  cannot  be  amended  save  by  a  feder- 
ative power,  and  the  entire  structure  is  one  of  check 
and  balance. 

The  vital  and  underlying  principle  of  our  federal 
government  is  the  continued  equipoise  of  the  State  and 
National  power.  Its  structure  rests  on  the  steadfast 
pillars  of  the  States.  It  effects  free  government  by 
concurrent  majorities,  by  restraints  upon  aggregated 
popular  will.  It  is  not  a  party  to,  but  the  result  of  the 
Constitution,  and  cannot  in  its  original  conception, 
exist  apart  from  the  Constitution,  or  the   States,  its 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  191 

creator.  The  Union  is  supreme  in  its  delegated  pow- 
ers; beyond  that  the  States  are  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent. 

(Reading  from  Marshall,  Chase,  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, and  Bancroft.) 

The  high  authority  and  strong  testimony  of  these 
great  men,  the  closest  students  of  our  government, 
show  conclusively  that  equipoise  is  the  basal  principle 
of  the  republic,  that  State  and  Nation  are  both  supreme 
in  their  functions ;  but  that  the  central  government 
cannot  legally  grow  in  power,  for  its  functions  are  del- 
egated and  defined. 

Since,  therefore,  ours  is  a  federal  republic,  and  its 
vital  principle  is  balanced  equipoise  of  State  and  Na- 
tion, the  danger  of  centralization  is  self-evident.  The 
reading  of  our  query  evidently  means  growth  of  cen- 
tralism and  decay  of  State  power.  This  means  insta- 
bility of  the  essential  equipoise,  and  if  not  the  fall  of 
the  republic,  its  complete  metamorphosis  into  a  central 
despotism. 

The  builders  of  the  republic  were  the  peers  of  any 
in  history's  roll  of  worthies.  Rich  in  learning  and 
experience,  integrity  and  sagacity,  they  knew  they 
were  the  grave  custodians  of  a  people's  hopes.  Know- 
ing their  country's  needs  and  temper,  studied  in  the 
political  science  of  all  ages  and  countries,  they  acted 
under  the  gravest  consciousness  of  mighty  responsibil- 
ity ever  given  to  mortal  stewardship.  They  were 
right;  with  courageous  heroism  and  sage-like  wisdom, 
they  wrought  out  the  truest  government  yet  given  to 
mankind.  In  theory  it  is  perfect — in  practice  smooth 
and  efficient,  save  when  at  times  the  pendulum  has 
swung  too  far  stateward  or  to  the  center.  It  incar- 
nates the  two  great  aims  of  government — unity  and 


192  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

freedom.  The  Union  means  unity;  the  States,  free- 
dom. Equal  in  importance,  they  must  be  equal  in 
power,  else  the  ship  of  state  will  veer  into  the  channels 
that  lead  upon  the  reefs  of  ruin.      (Incomplete). 

SECOND  SPEECH. 

This  is  a  federal  republic.  Its  maintenance  reduced 
to  its  finality  depends  upon  the  affections  and  will  of 
the  people.  If  they  have  good  local  government, 
which  history  proves  is  only  given  to  free  people  by 
local  self  government,  then  it  follows  that  the  highest 
government  based  on  the  local  powers  will  be  good  and 
enduring.  Government  embracing  all  the  relations  of 
home,  the  dearest  possessions  of  human  life,  all  that 
intimately  affects  the  citizen,  the  preservation  of  local 
self  government,  means  the  preservation  of  the  liberty 
of  the  republic.  Hence,  it  is  entirely  necessary  for 
the  preservation  of  the  essential  eqviipoise  of  federalism 
to  preserve  local  freedom  and  good  National  adminis- 
tration. "Our  Government,"  said  Henry  Clay,  "is  not 
to  be  maintained  or  our  Union  preserved  by  invasions 
of  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  several  States."  But 
central  supremacy  can  mean  nothing,  if  it  does  not 
mean  the  absorption  of  local  rights  and  powers. 

Equipoise  is  the  prime  essential  of  federalism.  It 
is  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of  unity.  The  centripetal 
must  be  counterbalanced  by  the  centrifugal  force,  or 
the  federal  sphere  will  sweep  from  its  orderly  orbit 
into  the  consuming  fire  of  the  central  sun. 

Centralism  opposes  the  fullest  development  of  a  vast 
country.  Free  play  and  spontaneous  expansion  are 
the  only  incentives  to  popular  self-reliance,  they  are 
the  true  requisites  of  progress.  Central  Government 
means  strong  government — it  means  repression.     This 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  193 

vast  republic,  with  its  diverse  interests  and  local  needs, 
will  be  better  maintained  by  the  popular  diffusion  of 
liberty  and  enlightenment,  than  by  power  congested  at 
the  center.  The  States  should  do  nothing  the  people 
themselves  can  do — the  nation  nothing  the  States  can 
do.  The  nearer  the  government  is  to  the  people,  the 
better  care  will  they  have  for  it,  the  more  will  it  ex- 
press their  wishes  and  needs,  and  this  can  never  be 
done  by  distant  and  external  power.  This  State 
autonomy  is  essential  to  federalism.  History  teaches 
no  plainer  truth  than  that  a  consolidated  government 
cannot  be  established  on  so  wide  a  domain  as  ours, 
unless  it  be  monarchical.  Think  of  a  federal  repub- 
lic embracing  a  continent  and  governing  seventy 
millions!  Think  of  fifty  great  and  opulent  States 
governed  by  one  National  authority.  Girt  by  two 
oceans,  spanning  the  temperate  zone,  displaying  re- 
sources Herculean  in  power  and  Protean  in  form,  with 
all  the  diversities  of  industrial  and  social  life,  there 
must  inevitably  be  the  widest  divergence  and 
variety  of  human  interest.  The  stiff  bonds  of  central- 
ism alone  cannot  bind  them  together.  There  must  be 
that  durability  that  comes  from  flexibility.  National 
control  of  all  our  diverse  interests  means  either  chaos 
or  despotism.  Indulgence  of  powers  and  continued 
centralization  is  dangerous  because  it  creates  desire 
for  more,  and  this  desire  of  a  partisan  majority  will 
lead  to  dangerous  results.  Unlimited  central  power 
means  unlimited  tyranny  of  a  partisan  majority  that 
must  ally  itself  with  monopoly  and  wealth  to  perpetu- 
ate its  sway.  Consolidated  capital  is  ever  concurrent 
with  political  centralism  and  this  allied  danger  is  incal- 
culable. The  centralist  and  capitalist  go  hand  in  hand. 
Compact  and  organized,  one  meets  the  other's  neces- 

13 


194  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

sity  and  thus  they  strip  the  many  of  their  rights  and 
aggrandize  the  few. 

Equipoise  of  government  allows  prompt  dispatch  for 
local  rule,  and  more  mature  deliberation  on  the  great 
questions  of  the  nation.  In  short,  the  special  needs  of 
States  find  prompt  attention,  the  general  and  common 
affairs  of  the  Nation  receive  careful  consideration. 
This  is  the  true  theory;  but  continued  centralization 
means  power  without  responsibility ;  it  means  that 
every  Congressman  stands  or  falls  by  his  own  constit- 
uents ;  that  ihe  and  his  party  may  invade  the  local  rights 
of  the  States ;  that  North  Carolina  must  be  sacrificed 
for  New  York's  wishes — in  short,  it  makes  one  sover- 
eign people  rule  over  another  sovereign  people — a 
paradox  fraught  with  a  fatal  truth.  History's  most 
important  teaching  is  that  responsibility  can  never, 
with  safety,  be  separated  from  power,  that  there  must 
be  accountability  to  those  affected  by  the  use  of  the 
power. 

The  affections  and  trust  of  the  people — this  is  the 
enduring  foundation  of  States,  and  centralism  and  re- 
pression will  never  gain  it.  The  only  legitimate  and 
rightful  objects  of  national  control  are  those  common 
to  all  States,  to  the  wdiole  American  people.  Without 
such  a  strict  limitation  of  its  powers  no  republican  gov- 
ernment can  be  maintained  over  a  vast  and  populous 
continent.  It  has  never  yet  been  done ;  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  will  ever  be  done.  Though 
we  are  becoming  one  people  in  space,  yet  the  complex- 
ity of  our  civilization  is  so  intricate  that  the  common 
interests  of  States  cannot  appreciably  be  increasing. 

The  Christian  ideal  of  a  world  federation  can  never 
be  reached  save  by  a  treaty  binding  the  good  faith  of 
nations  to  abide  by  the  advice  of  a  central  council  upon 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  195 

a  few  questions,  without  wounding  national  suscep- 
tibilities or  trenching  upon  national  autonomy.  The 
principle  of  harmony  and  maintenance  here  is  exactly 
identical  with  American  federalism. 

Unchecked  central  force  inevitably  becomes  despotic. 
It  absorbs  the  local  powers,  it  threatens  local  and  indi- 
vidual liberty.  Whenever  all  rule  comes  from  Wash- 
ington, the  wealthier  sections  will  rule  in  their  own 
interests  and  party  despotism  and  sectional  hate  will 
end  in  misrule  and  deadly  faction.  The  unity  of  the 
American  people  is  a  splendid  thought  and  a  great  fact. 
But  stronger  and  surer  is  the  love  of  home  and  local 
freedom,  and  whenever  national  union  and  local  free- 
dom clash,  the  latter  is  ever  championed  by  manly 
freemen.  There  is  a  constant  force  necessary  for  our 
government.  This  force,  according  to  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  dictates  of  wisdom,  must  be  distributed 
among  the  people,  equally  divided  between  State  and 
Nation.  Hence,  strong  central  power  means  sec- 
tional tyranny  and  less  local  freedom.  A  disruptive 
force  is  fostered,  more  dread  and  dangerous  than  ever 
comes  to  that  government  which  trusts  the  citizens  and 
magnifies  the  State.  Beneath  the  splendor  of  central- 
ism is  ever  concealed  the  canker  of  unrest  and  oppres- 
sion. It  was  from  the  Golden  Age  of  Augustus  that 
the  Roman  Empire  staggered  to  its  fall.  All  roads  led 
'to  Rome,  but  they  were  the  veins  that  gathered  the 
Empire's  life-blood  in  deadly  congestion.  England 
has  fought  from  centralized  tyranny  to  the  divine 
right  of  the  people,  and  her  complete  vindication  de- 
mands Home  Rule  for  prostrate  Ireland.  Even  versa- 
tile France  was  not  elastic  enough  to  bear  the  strain 
of  central  despotism,  and  the  terrible  recoil  plunged 
her  into  the  Reign  of  Terror. 


196  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Bryce,  in  "Tihe  American  Commonwealth,"  impar- 
tially declares  that : 

"When  other  things  are  equal,  the  more  power  is 
given  to  the  units  which  compose  the  nation,  be  they 
large  or  small,  and  the  less  to  the  nation  as  a  whole 
and  to  its  central  authority,  so  much  the  fuller  will  be 
the  liberties  and  so  much  the  greater  the  energy  of  the 
individuals  who  compose  the  people." 

This  is  a  notable  truth — and  how  can  the  republic 
live  by  that  which  destroys  freedom,  its  foundation 
and  support? 

Verily,  we  must  magnify  and  defend  local  self  gov- 
ernment. The  rich  blood  must  flow  unchecked  to  the 
Nation's  heart,  sent  from  sound  and  healthy  organs 
and  not  from  diseased  and  withered  extremities.  Lo- 
cal self  government,  the  lifeboat  of  liberty,  insures 
safe  government  at  home  because  it  intrusts  to  every 
citizen  the  guardianship  of  local  interests.  The  States 
are  the  Mecca  of  civic  liberty,  and  in  them  are  enshrined 
the  Nation's  hopes.  They  are  the  altars  of  freedom, 
and  on  the  hearthstone  of  every  citizen  we  must  sanc- 
tify, if  we  would  fortify,  the  republic.  The  diffusion 
of  popular  power  is  the  only  pledge  and  surety  of 
national  love  and  loyalty. 

The  fullest  local  power  is  always  better  than  the 
harsh  sway  of  external  force.  It  is  the  methodical 
system  of  nature,  whose  economy  metes  out  pain  for 
error,  whose  laws  bear  their  own  inherent  sanction. 
It  is  the  sacred  order  of  Divinity — ^the  judgment  of 
Jehovah,  which  makes  human  sin  the  deliverer  of  its 
own  penalty. 

Recall  the  despotism  of  centralism  in  that  saturnalia 
of  tyranny  and  fraud,  the  post-bellum  reconstruction 
of  the   South.     Our  population   was   decimated,  our 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  197 

hopes  crushed,  the  country  bankrupted,  tyrannic  tests 
of  loyalty  compelled,  and  the  local  rule  of  State  en- 
trusted to  the  servile  negro  and  the  infamous  carpet- 
bagger. 

Senator  Edmunds,  the  venerable  Republican  of  Ver- 
mont, writes : 

"The  States  are  bulwarks  of  the  liberties  of  the 
whole  people,  as  the  government  of  the  whole  people 
is  the  willing  and  bounden  defender  of  the  republican 
existence  of  each  State  and  of  the  inherent  freedom 
of  its  citizens." 

David  Dudley  Field,  the  great  constitutional  lawyer, 
says: 

"Our  freedom  and  existence  depend  upon  the  pre- 
servation of  the  States  in  the  plenitude  of  their  power. 
Security  for  person  and  property  is  more  important 
even  than  unity.  This  security  must  be  given  by  the 
States."     And  again: 

"To  be  a  State  of  the  American  Union  is  to  be  a 
sovereign  in  everything  within  its  own  borders,  except 
when  the  sovereignty  in  a  certain  limited  number  of 
things  has  been  granted  to  the  common  government  of 
all  the  States."  State  rights  is  a  precious  possession. 
Shall  the  glory  and  teachings  of  our  past  State  histo- 
ries be  blotted  out  and  forgotten  ?  No !  That  people 
that  is  not  conservative  of  its  past,  is  unworthy  of  a 
glorious  future. 

The  maintenance  of  equipoise  enables  experiments 
in  law  and  government  that  could  not  be  safely  tried 
in  a  large  centralized  government.  Thus  South  Caro- 
lina's dispensary  law  benefits  or  ihurts  South  Carolina 
alone.  If  successful,  it  stands  an  example  for  sister 
States;  if  dangerous,  the  penalty  does  not  involve  the 
nation. 


198  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  RISE  OF  GOVERNMENT 

At  the  outset  let  us  make  a  distinction  between  Gov- 
ernment and  Society.  Society  is  an  organism — the 
organic  Hfe  and  unity  of  a  people.  Government  is  an 
organ — the  expression,  embodiment,  and  servant  of 
society.  Behind  government  rests  its  authority,  the 
force  of  society.  As  language  is  to  thought,  so  is  gov- 
ernment to  society,  and  as  the  underlying  life  of  the 
one  expands,  so  will  the  other  develop  in  expression. 

Thus  it  must  be  evident  that  government  had  an  ori- 
gin almost  coeval  with  society.  But  the  nature  of  the 
problem,  with  its  scant  and  imperfect  dates  has  led  to 
various  interpretations  and  theories.  The  most  nota- 
ble of  tihem  are  the  Patriarchal  Theory,  the  Theory 
of  Social  Contract,  the  Theory  of  an  Original  Law- 
giver, and  the  Theory  of  Divine  Right. 

Let  us  examine  each  of  these. 

1.  The  Patriarchal  Theory,  founded  originally  on 
the  scriptural  history  of  the  Hebrew  patriarchs,  bases 
Ancient  Society  on  the  family  as  the  unit.  Kinship 
is  the  earliest  bond  of  unity  and  this  idea  is  kept  up  by 
adoption,  or  incorporation  of  new  blood  by  feigned 
relationship.  The  eldest  male  parent  is  supreme  over 
his  household.  He  has  power  of  life  or  death  over 
his  children  as  well  as  his  slaves.  He  holds  his  chil- 
dren's flocks  and  herds,  though  as  a  representative 
rather  than  a  proprietor.  Society  is  the  organized 
aggregate  of  families  and  not,  as  now,  of  individuals. 
Family  is  the  unit,  the  earliest  government,  meeting 
the  industrial,  political  and  religious  needs  of  man. 
The  father  is  supreme  king  and  priest.  From  this 
basal  family,  in  time,  comes  the  gens,  ruled  by  the 
chiefest  kinsmlan.     This  becomes  a  tribe,  whose  chief 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  199 

is  yet,  in  theory  at  least,  head  kinsman.  Finally,  the 
union  of  tribes  evolves  the  Ancient  State,  with  its 
king,  the  father  and  priest  of  his  people. 

The  fact  is  proven  by  history  that  at  a  very  early 
age  the  patriarchal  family  was  the  basis  and  shaping 
type  of  most  governments.  The  village  communities 
of  Russia  are  believed  to  be  survivals  of  this  early 
social  organization,  based  on  kinship.  Ancient  Irish 
law  points  to  a  like  character  of  archaic  Celtic  gov- 
ernment, and  even  clearer  evidence,  if  history  is  to  be 
credited,  is  found  in  early  Greek  and  Roman  govern- 
ment. 

There  is  a  doubt,  however,  whether  the  family  was 
the  first  form  of  any  government.  It  is  claimed  with 
reason  that  the  patriarchal  was  not  the  original  family, 
but  a  derivative  from  less  distinct  preceding  organiza- 
tion. However  that  may  be,  one  thing  seems  clear,  if 
we  accept  the  theory  of  man's  evolution.  We  cannot 
get  back  of  the  family  to  begin  history  with  individ- 
uals, for  the  beasts,  antecedent  to  man,  had  already 
reached  the  family  stage.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a 
savage  people  with  a  consciousness  sufficiently  devel- 
oped to  institute  a  government  by  an  independent 
rational  act.  If  the  feeling  of  kinship  would  not  bind 
men  together,  can  we  expect  wild  and  unkempt  sav- 
ages to  organize? 

2.  The  Theory  of  Social  Contract  was  developed  by 
Hobbes,  Hooker,  Locke,  and  Rousseau  in  the  last  cen- 
tury. First  of  all  they  assume  the  existence  of  a  Law 
of  Nature,  external  to,  and  above,  human  law.  Ac- 
cording to  Hobbes,  this  law  means,  ''in  sum,  'doing  to 
others  as  we  would  be  done  to.'  "  As  an  abstract 
standard,  man  was  born  into  it,  and  his  law  must  con- 
form to  it.     It  was  the  product  of  Greek  stoicism  and 


200     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Roman  jurisprudence,  which  conceived  it  to  be  neces- 
sary to  square  human  thought  with  abstract  standards 
of  Universal  Reason,  inherent  in  nature.  Though  this 
law  was  binding  on  individual  minds,  yet  lawless  sel- 
fishness, the  theory  of  claim's,  prevented  its  exercise, 
and  it  failed  to  unite  men  in  concerted  action,  in  gov- 
erned society.  Hooker  says  that  the  laws  of  Nature 
"do  bind  men  absolutely,  even  as  they  are  men,  al- 
though they  have  never  any  settled  fellowship,  never 
any  solemn  agreement  amongst  themselves  what  to  do 
or  not  to  do ;  but  forasmuch  as  we  are  not  by  ourselves 
sufficient  to  furnish  ourselves  with  competent  store  of 
things  needful  for  such  a  life  as  our  natures  doth 
desire,  a  life  fit  for  the  dignity  of  man,  therefore  to 
supply  these  defects  and  imperfections,  which  are  in 
us  living  single  and  solely  by  ourselves,  we  are  natu- 
rally induced  to  seek  communion  and  fellowship  with 
others.  This  was  the  cause  of  men  uniting  themselves 
at  first  in  political  societies."  (Ecclesiastical  Polity, 
Bk  1,  Sec.  10).  Man  was  too  unsocial  to  live  with  his 
fellows  under  this  single  law.  There  was  a  state  of 
strife.  To  prevent  extermination  it  was  ended  by 
common  consent,  by  "agreeing  together  mutually  to 
enter  one  common  community  and  make  one  body  poli- 
tic." (Locke).  Locke  further  says:  "Men  being  by 
nature  all  free,  equal,  and  independent,  no  one  can  be 
put  out  of  this  estate  and  subjected  to  the  political 
power  of  another  without  his  own  consent.  The  only 
way  whereby  any  one  divests  himself  of  his  natural 
liberty  and  puts  on  the  bonds  of  civil  society,  is  by 
agreeing  with  other  men  to  join  and  unite  into  a  com- 
munity." 

But  Locke  errs  in  assuming  man  to  be  "free,  equal, 
and  independent"  by  nature.     Men  are  born  into  a  pre- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  201 

existing  society — into  a  status.  They  are  reared  in 
this  status  and  nurture  and  training  bind  them  to  it 
with  the  strong  thread  of  habit.  Man  is  not  free ;  he  is 
utterly  dependent,  whether  he  will  or  not.  Every 
man's  career  was  and  is  determined  for  him,  more  or 
less,  before  his  birth.  The  contract  theory  interprets 
the  savage  mind  as  if  it  were  a  highly  developed  intel- 
lect. Its  logic  would  have  it  that  man  has  fallen,  that 
a  savage  is  better  able  to  originate  government  than  a 
civilized  man.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  primitive  man, 
as  we  know  him,  rising  to  the  sublime  and  ethical 
height  of  conciliatory  agreement.  Is  it  not,  even 
today,  more  natural  for  men  to  prefer  kinship  to  coun- 
try? "Blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  and  primitive 
man,  of  all  men,  was  not  an  exception  to  the  rule. 
Status  must  have  been  the  basis  of  society.  Entirely 
free  and  independent  individuals  are  inconceivable. 
Every  human  is  the  child  of  parents ;  he  can't  escape 
nature's  law  of  kinship.  He  does  not  want  to  escape 
it.  This  is  exactly  why  he  formed  no  contract :  his 
status  was  part  of  his  life.  He  did  not  care  to  get  out 
of  it.  It  was  only  nature's  ceaseless  law  of  growth 
that  impelled  him  forward,  unconsciously,  it  may  be, 
until  he  became  self-conscious,  until  he  had  the  power 
and  desire  to  will  such  a  compact. 

There  was  no  place  for  compact  in  primitive  thought, 
yet  this  theory  makes  social  life  begin  with  it.  Con- 
tract could  never  have  been  supported  but  by  a  rever- 
ence for  law,  which  is  a  comparatively  modern  prin- 
ciple of  action.  Primitive  man  knew  no  law.  He  was 
controlled  by  instinct,  by  feeling;  and  this  feeling  took 
the  only  natural  course :  directed  social  organization 
on  the  lines  of  kinship.  If  government  originated  by 
compact,  why  did  this  principle  not  continue  to  work, 


202  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

giving  us  arbitration,  federation  and  other  ethical 
products?  Tlie  milHons  of  dead,  w^ho  perished  for 
kith  and  covintry  falsify  such  supposition,  unless  we 
believe  man  has  steadily  degenerated.  "The  duty  re- 
sulting from  one  man's  reliance  on  the  word  of  another 
is  one  of  the  slowest  conquests  of  civilization.  There 
is  nothing  in  early  times  like  the  interposition  of  law 
to  compel  the  performance  of  a  promise."  (Theodore 
W.  Dwight,  in  Introduction  to  Maine's  Ancient  Law, 
p.  57).  Just  as  well  should  a  man  of  50  explain  child- 
life  by  his  own  mature  habits. 

3.  The  Theory  of  Original  Lawgiver.  This  has  the 
tenor  of  ancient  tradition,  an  effort  made  by  the  an- 
cients to  explain  the  origin  of  their  governments. 
They  loved  to  picture  a  great  antecedent  hero,  the 
moulder  of  the  race  and  inventor  of  their  laws.  Thus 
the  Jews  had  Moses ;  Athens,  Solon ;  Sparta,  Lycur- 
gus;  Rome,  Numa;  and  England,  Alfred.  While 
great  men  were  doubtless  powerful  in  shaping  the 
course  of  instituted  governments,  yet  history  tells  us 
of  society  and  government  back  of  these  men.  Imag- 
ine a  savage  of  the  mental  power  and  experience  neces- 
sary to  even  conceive  of  such  laws  as  these  men  gave. 
Could  such  laws  have  been  forced  upon  a  very  primi- 
tive society,  much  less  accepted  at  the  suggestion  of 
one  man  ?  Such  a  view  would  argue  that  government 
was  made  like  a  house.  Common  observation  teaches 
that  this  is  untrue ;  it  grew,  it  developed,  like  a  tree — 
the  expression  of  an  inward  life,  the  life  of  society. 
Human  choice  has  evidently  been  a  factor  in  govern- 
mental growth,  but  it  will  not  do  to  attribute  entire 
origin  and  development  to  it. 

4.  The  Theory  of  Divine  Origin.  This  is  closely  akin 
to  the  theory  just  discussed,  though  more  modern  in 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  203 

its  application.  It  attributes  the  origin  of  human  gov- 
ernment to  the  immediate  power  of  God  alone.  It 
makes  a  direct  command  of  God  the  cause  and  excuse 
for  the  existence  of  government.  Adam  was  God's 
first  appointed  vice-gerent,  whose  authority  is  direct 
from  heaven  and  is  transmitted  by  primogeniture  to 
his  lineal  descendants,  namely,  the  monarchs  of  the 
earth.  This  is  the  old  doctrine  of  the  Roman  philoso- 
phy, claiming  to  be  based  on  the  Bible,  and  finding  its 
culmination  in  the  Doctrine  of  Divine  Right  in  the 
days  of  the  English  Stuarts.  Really,  however,  the 
Bible  disproves  their  claims.  The  Hebrews  chose  God 
for  their  ruler  a  thousand  years  before  Pericles.  A 
popular  vote  decided  it  and  the  choice  was  resubmitted 
every  seven  years  after  Moses'  death.  Isaac  was  not 
Abraham's  eldest  son ;  nor  was  David  Jesse's,  nor  Solo- 
mon David's. 

Sovereignty  is  not  the  possession  of  chosen  demi- 
gods ;  it  resides  with  the  people  in  their  organic  capacity 
as  status,  though  often  it  lies  hidden,  usurped  or 
abused  until  the  wreck  of  revolution  demonstrates  its 
true  abiding  place. 

But  the  theory  has  a  measure  of  truth.  If  we  con- 
sider man's  nature  as  divine,  if  God  dwells  in  us,  then 
our  life  is  the  action  of  the  inward  Divinity  and  gov- 
ernment is  one  of  its  manifestations.  Man's  sociabil- 
ity, his  sense  of  order  and  law,  may  thus  be  regarded  as 
inherently  divine.  Otherwise,  we  cannot  conceive  of 
the  divine  origin  of  government. 

Each  of  these  theories  undoubtedly  contains  a  truth. 
Each  has  at  times  profoundly  impressed  mankind,  and 
consequently  must  have  contained  a  truth. 

Today  the  Patriarchal  Theory  is  almost  universally 
accepted  as  true,  and  it  is  this  theory  which  I  believe 


204  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

explains  the  origin  of  human  government,  as  I  shall  at- 
tempt to  show  more  clearly  later. 

The  Contract  Theory  places  too  much  stress  on  the 
free  will  and  intellectual  freedom  of  primitive  man. 
It  presupposes  a  too  highly  developed  mind  in  early 
man,  whom  we  know  to  have  been  a  wild  and  crouch- 
ing savage.  Though  man  was  born  into  government, 
as  it  were,  yet  contract  did  doubtless  play  no  little  part 
in  the  shaping  of  government  and  moulding  some  of 
its  later  forms.  Deliberate  choice  must  have  been  be- 
hind many  phenomena  in  early  statecraft.  It  is  an 
essential  part  in  the  development,  but  not  to  be  desig- 
nated as  such  in  the  origin. 

So  in  the  Theories  of  An  Original  Lawgiver  and 
Divine  Right  we  may  trace  the  thread  of  exaggerated 
truth.  On  one  hand,  government  was  not  a  manufac- 
tured article,  given  over  to  man's  use  from  God ;  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  it  wholly  a  human  contrivance. 
It  was  both:  divine,  as  life  is  the  vital  force  behind, 
inherently  involved  in  man's  nature;  human,  as  man 
directed  this  force  and  gave  it  various  expression.  Its 
origin  was  spontaneous  and  natural — an  absolute  ne- 
cessity for  human  society.  It  was  twin-born  with  man 
and  the  family.  Explain  the  origin  of  the  family  and 
you  have  the  origin  of  government.  Aristotle  was 
right  when  he  said  that  "Man  is  by  nature  a  political 
animal."  By  the  very  law  of  his  birth  he  is  social,  he 
enters  society  and  when  once  in  society,  he  must  inevi- 
tably make  the  best  of  his  relations.  But  if  govern- 
ment were  of  spontaneous  origin,  it  was  profoundly 
affected  by  humian  will  and  choice.  If  the  contract  the- 
ory had  only  claimed  that  government  was  modified  by 
man's  volition  it  would  have  been  essentially  true.    But 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  205 

it  assumed  too  much.  Man  did  not  originate  his  gov- 
ernment entirely  any  more  than  he  originated  himself. 

As  already  intimated,  my  inclination  is  toward  the 
patriarchal  theory.  We  have  examined  the  various 
theories  and  tried  to  interpret  the  facts  and  their  mean- 
ing. Now  let  us  see  what  seems  to  be  the  true  origin 
of  government  and  its  psychological  meaning. 

Our  problem  is  to  find  why  did  the  phenomenon  of 
government  originate,  and  how  this  origin  came  about. 
It  seems  evident  that  government  is  the  product  of 
necessity.  It  would  be  strange  to  find  organization  in 
society  throughout  the  world  in  all  ages  of  man's  life, 
were  it  not  a  necessity — a  great  first  need.  This 
necessity,  we  believe,  exists  from  the  very  nature  of 
man.  He  is  a  social  being,  even  from  his  birth,  yearn- 
ing for  intercourse  with  others  to  satisfy  his  own  being. 
Prof.  Drummond  says  that  "looking  broadly  at  nature, 
one  general  fact  is  striking — the  more  social  animals 
are  in  overwhelming  preponderance  over  the  unsocial" 
(Ascent  of  Man,  p.  238).  Regarding  man  even  as  a 
mere  animal  he  seems  naturally  social.  Much  more 
should  he  appear  so  when  we  think  of  his  vast  supe- 
riority in  the  possession  of  a  wondrous  intellect,  whose 
nature  makes  it  attend  to  other  objects  and  beings  for 
self-satisfaction.  Though  primitive  man  is  doubtless 
eminently  selfish,  this  very  selfishness  demands  gratifi- 
cations in  social  intercourse.  The  hermit  is  an  exam- 
ple of  distorted  and  misdirected  selfishness.  Hoffding 
(p.  249)  says:  "The  relation  between  mother  and 
child  gives  the  most  primitive  family  and  most  primi- 
tive human  society.  It  makes  a  pure  'state  of  nature,' 
an  absolute  individualism  impossible."  This  original 
impulse,  instinct,  or  whatever  it  is,  leads  unconsciously 
at  first,  it  may  be,  to  the  first  narrow  form  of  govern- 


206  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ment,  and  afterwards  growing  naturally,  though 
strange  to  say,  into  an  organization  checking  the  very 
passions  that  called  it  forth.  This  we  consider  the 
Why  of  government;  now  to  the  How. 

Historically,  the  given  facts  point  to  kinship  as  the 
first  and  basal  tie  of  social  existence  and  organization. 
The  tribe  and  gens  are  clearly  very  early  forms  of 
society — cherishing  the  belief  in  common  origin.  In 
early  society  we  do  not  find  the  individual  playing  an 
important  part.  He  has  importance  only  as  connected 
with  the  family.  The  family  seems  to  be  the  basal 
unit,  the  important  factor.  And  this  is  natural  and 
logical,  if  we  admit  that  man  has  inborn  in  him  a  social 
tendency,  for  it  would  be  natural  and  not  'human  for 
man  to  prefer  association  with  strangers,  alios,  rather 
than  his  own  kin.  The  very  fact  that  we  find  the  prin- 
ciple of  adoption  or  feigned  relationship  playing  a  large 
part  in  early  society  confirms  the  belief  that  kinship 
was  the  ruling  idea,  the  fundamental  necessity  for 
social  organization.  As  is  seen  throughout  all  life,  the 
principles  of  nutrition  (self)  and  of.  reproduction 
(otherself)  are  the  ruling  instincts  in  early  man. 
They  are  indissoluble.  Government,  it  seems  to  me, 
is  the  logical  outcome  of  their  action.  The  self,  even 
did  it  try,  could  not  escape  its  dependence  on  parents, 
on  the  relationship  of  intimate  associates.  It  feels  this 
dependence,  and  self-satisfaction  is  the  result  of  the 
necessary  gratification  of  this  instinct.  Henry  Drum- 
mond  clearly  puts  it:  "These  two  objects  are  thus 
wholly  different.  The  first  (nutrition)  has  a  purely 
personal  end ;  its  attention  is  turned  inward ;  it  exists 
only  for  the  present.  The  second  (reproduction)  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  is  impersonal ;  its  attention  is 
turned  outward ;  it  lives  for  the  future.     One  of  these 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  207 

objects,  in  other  words,  is  self-regarding ;  the  other  is 
other-regarding.  Both,  of  course,  at  the  outset  are 
wholly  selfish ;  both  are  parts  of  the  struggle  for  life." 
(Ascent  of  Man,  p.  221).  We  cannot  conceive  a  sin- 
gle man  in  nature  without  bonds  of  kinship.  It  is 
against  nature's  ordering.  The  eternal  arrangement 
makes  him  a  part  of  somebody  else.  There  we  have 
society  in  its  simplest  form — a  relationship  and  socia- 
bility which  is  inevitable.  From  it  the  ties  of  kinship 
reach  from  one  individual  to  another  and  thus  the 
larger  social  units  are  evolved. 

May  we  not  even  today  see  distinct  traces  of  an 
early  patriarchal  principle  in  slavery,  subjection  of 
woman,  the  wardship  of  children,  etc.  ?  These  are  all 
in  keeping  with  the  idea  that  there  was  a  father  with 
supreme  ownership  and  control.  In  India  and  China 
we  find  wondrous  fossilized  forms  of  government, 
showing  distinct  marks  of  the  basal  idea  of  family.  In 
China  paternalism  reigns ;  in  India  caste  is  supreme. 

But  developed  forms  of  government  appear  to  be 
based  on  the  individual.  The  family  has  lost  its 
whilom  station.  Why  is  this — what  is  the  psycholog- 
ical meaning  of  this  origin  and  growth  of  government? 
To  me,  its  meaning  is  this.  Government  took  its  rise 
in  the  feelings.  Its  development  has  been  a  growth. 
It  has  simply  been  the  working-out  of  human  nature. 
The  form  which  has  best  fitted  its  people,  has  enclosed. 
Thus  Monarchy.  Aristocracy,  and  Democracy,  as  Aris- 
totle graduated  it,  set  forth  in  outer  form  the  inward 
character  of  their  underlying  life.  First,  Monarchy, 
the  rule  of  one  man,  derived  from  the  belief  in  patri- 
archal authority.  Then  Aristocracy,  where  the  few, 
great  and  strong,  usurp  or  assert  the  power.     Lastly, 


208     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Democracy,  where  the  people  themselves  come  to  a 
realization  and  assertion  of  their  rights  and  powers. 

Here  we  see  feeling  at  first  dominant.  The  people 
look  upon  their  patriarch  or  king  as  half  divine.  Awe, 
reverence,  love — it  is  pure  feeling — else  why  this  de- 
votion, this  humble  obedience.  Later  mental  growth 
teaches  the  fact  of  the  importance  of  the  people,  of  the 
individual.  This,  when  fully  realized,  works  revolu- 
tions. The  teachings  of  Locke  and  Rousseau  did  much 
toward  the  French  Revolution  and  American  Inde- 
pendence, in  the  fact  that  they  emphasized  the  impor- 
tance of  the  individual. 

Another  fact  helps  explain  the  origin  and  rise  of 
government  and  also  corroborates  the  importance  of 
feeling.  Every  human  being  is  born  into  relation  with 
his  parents,  his  fellow  creatures,  and  his  God.  The 
early  man  doubtless  felt  these  relations  in  his  vague 
savage  mind.  His  narrow  vision  and  thought  were 
obscured  by  feeling  for  his  closest  relations,  and  hence 
obedience  was  given  primarily  to  family,  in  which  was 
also  expressed  his  primitive  relations  to  his  fellows 
and  his  God.  Family  is  the  first  government ;  it  is 
church  and  state. 

Mental  growth,  feeling,  refined  by  thought  develop- 
ment, gave  a  wider  discrimination  and  finally  the  dis- 
tinct institutions,  church  and  state,  were  evolved  from 
the  family.  Hoffman  in  "The  Sphere  of  the  State" 
(p.  207),  speaking  of  the  relation  of  family  and  state, 
says  that  family,  church  and  state  "are  so  intimately 
related  to  one  another  that  any  injury  to  one  is  an 
injury  to  all,  and  all  good  that  comes  to  one  is  shared 
by  all.  They  rise  or  fall  together."  Ancient  mythol- 
ogy and  barbaric  religions  of  today  which  worship  as 
gods  their  ancestors  who  are  dead  and  now  exert  a 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  209 

mysterious  power  over  them,  prove  the  vital  fact  of 
kinship,  of  the  original  identity  of  family,  church  and 
state.  All  early  governments  are  theocratic  in  form. 
The  king  is  priest,  from  very  necessity.  The  thing 
above  all  needed  is  obedience,  and  this  could  not  be 
had  under  dual  government.  Fear  and  reverence 
(feehng)  alone,  allied  with  family,  could  tame  the 
wild  savage  to  the  habits  and  customs  of  regular  law. 
Thus  a  cake  of  custom  was  formed,  the  basis  for  fur- 
ther growth.  Because  mankind  was  ever  growing, 
and  the  kingdom  of  the  dead  increasing,  economy  de- 
manded the  development  of  statecraft,  or  government 
for  the  living,  and  priestcraft,  or  care  for  the  dead. 

The  purity  of  the  Jewish  family  was  unequalled. 
Hence  its  religion  was  kept  intact — one  secret,  I  doubt 
not,  of  its  great  spiritual  power.  It  emphasized  kin- 
ship— feeling.  Other  races  broke  up  the  cake  of  cus- 
tom and  their  family  relation,  either  because  of  migra- 
tion on  one  hand,  or  stagnation  on  the  other,  and  em- 
phasized other  things  or  lapsed  into  gross  forms  of 
religion  and  life.  The  Aryan,  in  his  ceaseless  migra- 
tion, was  concerned  more  with  the  living  than  the  dead. 
Thus  be  developed  great  powers  in  statecraft,  keeping 
latent  the  religious  power  in  his  purity  of  family. 
When  Christianity  and  Teutonic  genius  for  govern- 
ment met,  they  gave  to  the  world  its  strongest  char- 
acter. 

Thus  we  might  give  many  proofs  of  the  common  ori- 
gin of  church  and  state — in  the  family — in  feeling — 
immortality,  at  its  origin,  seems  to  have  been  a  hope, 
not  of  perpetual  individual  life,  but  of  reunited  family 
life.  Famiily  customs  have  been  the  basis  of  all  codes 
of  laws,  family  religion  underlies  all  theologies  and 
churches,    family   occupations   were  the   germ   of   all 

14 


210  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

industries.  Tihe  sacrifice  of  famiily  at  Lacedsemonia 
brought  on  vice  and  spiritual  decay.  The  fact  that 
Greece  and  Rome  discouraged  family  life  was  a  potent 
force  in  their  destruction,  because  it  lowered  the  moral 
standard.  Polygamy  traces  its  foul  and  deadly  track 
across  any  government  that  tolerates  it.  In  short,  any 
government  that  emphasizes  the  pure  family  exalts  its 
influence  and  guarantees  its  life. 

Ancient  government  rested  on  the  authority  of  the 
inherent  common  will.  Which  is  that  immemorial  cus- 
tom be  preserved.  This  is  distinctively  feeling.  Mod- 
ern government  rests  on  the  authority  of  opinion,  dis- 
covered in  the  majority.  This  is  what  we  call  reason. 
It  is  feeling  refined  and  directed  by  thought.  We  have 
feeling  in  the  desire  to  preserve  our  established  and 
cherished  forms ;  reason,  however,  makes  us  different 
from  the  ancients  in  desire,  and  knowledge  how,  to 
alter  forms.  In  first  government,  man  lives  for  the 
government.  Now  man  has  grown  to  the  power  where 
he  sees  that  government  exists  for  him.  There  has 
been  an  advance  from  the  vague  individual  to  the  par- 
ticular and  self-assertive  individual.  We  have  come 
from  very  egoistic  feelings  to  more  ethical  ones.  Hoff- 
ding  puts  it  well  (p.  256)  :  "In  historical  development, 
a  relentless  logic  is  at  work,  leading  sympathy  to  conquer 
not  only  personal  egoism,  but  also  the  egoism  of  fam- 
ily and  of  nation  and  creed.  Impartial  knowledge 
works  into  the  hands  of  widest  sympathy  and  both 
come  to  a  stop  only  at  natural  boundaries." 

In  conclusion,  we  believe  we  have  discovered  and 
sihown  that  government  is  the  natural  product  of  man's 
nature ;  that  this  nature  is  first  evident  as  feeling,  ex- 
pressing itself  in  government  based  on  the  closer  feel- 
ings of  kinship  and  family;  that  in  this  first  govern- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  211 

ment  were  involved  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  secular ; 
that  their  divergence  and  distinction  were  the  result  of 
man's  growth  in  thought  or  cognition,  refining  and 
directing  the  primal  egoistic  instincts  into  the  later 
altruistic  feelings ;  that  accordingly  the  forms  of  gov- 
ernment have  been  a  gradation  from  monarchical  to 
democratic;  and  that  from  the  family  as  a  unit  we 
have  come  to  the  individual  as  a  unit.  Government 
has  been  a  growth  according  as  man's  mind  has  devel- 
oped ;  and  this,  we  believe,  has  been  from  unconscious 
instinct  to  self-conscious  thought  and  power.  The 
movement  has  been  from  status  to  rational  contract. 


THE  COLLEGE  FRATERNITY-AN  ARGUMENT 
BEFORE  THE  TRUSTEES 

1.  The  original  idea  of  the  fraternity  as  an  institu- 
tion we  admit  to  be  good.  This  idea,  having  for  its 
aim  the  association  of  college  men  for  strictly  social 
purposes,  naturally  demanded  the  selection  of  men  by 
standards  of  true  and  manly  worth,  irrespective  of 
wealth,  station,  or  surface  antecedents.  This  idea,  we 
claim,  has  been  abused  in  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  And  it  is  against  this  abuse  and  not  against 
the  idea  of  true  student  fellowship  that  we  contend. 
Institutions,  though  originally  good,  demand  constant 
vigilance  and  watching  lest  they  be  perverted.  That 
noblest  of  institutions,  the  church,  has  often  been  pros- 
tituted to  the  most  disgraceful  ends.  We  must  remem- 
ber that  institutions  are  organized ;  they  grow  and 
change.  Ideals  shift  and  ideas  are  transformed  so 
that  we  must  constantly  make  reckoning  to  see  that 


212     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

we  'have  not  abandoned  our  original  purpose  and  legiti- 
mate end. 

2.  We  claim  that  the  fraternity  idea  has  been  abused 
in  the  University  and  that  the  cause  of  this  abuse  is 
that  men  are  not  required  to  win  the  election  to  fra- 
ternity membership  by  legitimate  competition  in  manli- 
ness, character,  and  scholarship,  but  they  are  selected 
for  other  considerations.  We  know  that,  without  re- 
striction, almost  all  fraternity  men  are  branded,  as  it 
were,  immediately  after  reaching  college  and  taken 
into  fraternities  before  they  have  given  any  substantial 
evidence  that  they  will  meet  the  high  standards  of  char- 
acter and  scholarship  which  the  fraternity  ideas  claim 
to  set  for  membership.  The  considerations  for  eligi- 
bility are  almost  exclusively  such  arbitrary  qualifica- 
tions as  wealth,  family,  or  statical  antecedents.  And 
this  latter  standard  having  been  adopted,  the  former 
one  of  character  and  talent,  irrespective  of  objective 
qualifications,  is  adhered  to  even  throughout  the  col- 
lege course,  perpetuating  a  caste  that  was  essentially 
arbitrary  and  exclusive  in  its  beginning.  If  ours  is  a 
true  university,  fostering  the  true  university  idea,  then 
it  should  sustain  the  broadest  standards,  recognize  de- 
serving talent,  and  encourage  aspiring  manhood  in 
every  department  of  its  varied  life. 

3.  We  claim  further  that  the  manner  of  selection  by 
the  fraternities  damages  the  man  selected  by  offering  a 
distinction  not  striven  for  and  won ;  and  the  man  thus 
damaged  in  character  is  a  disagreeable  element  in  col- 
lege life.  Men  never  fully  appreciate  a  distinction  or 
a  possession  without  an  effort  for  its  attainment,  and 
consequently  a  full  and  liberal  consciousness  of  the 
duty  and  responsibility  attached  to  pre-eminent  sta- 
tion.    The  negro  and  the  foreigner  illustrate  this  in 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  213 

question  of  citizenship  and  suffrage.  American  heir- 
esses, purchasing  titled  husbands,  illustrate  it  in  Amer- 
ican society.  And  freshmen,  unfamiUar  with  college 
life  and  untutored  in  college  spirit,  are  not  exceptions 
to  this  fundamental  truth.  Power  and  distinction  in- 
volve responsibility  and  capacity  to  perform  duty, 
and  whenever  distinction  is  given  without  some  effort 
to  become  worthy  of  it,  the  recipient  is  almost  invari- 
ably injured  in  character.  So  it  is  in  the  University. 
The  bestowal  of  an  honor  on  a  Freshman,  without  pre- 
vious realization  of  its  value  through  effort,  makes  him 
arrogant  and  unduly  authoritative  in  matters  relating 
both  to  his  fellow  students  and  to  the  University 
authorities.  In  short,  when  he  is  thus  given  distinc- 
tion and  support,  he  becomes  a  disagreeable  and  rebel- 
lious element  in  college  life. 

4.  These  men,  thus  initiated  into  the  University,  are 
given  wrong  views  of  college  distinctions  and  wrong 
standards  of  value  in  bestowing  honors.  Even  as  the 
freshman  was  influenced  and  affected  by  'his  ill-judged 
elevation,  so  will  he  continue  to  conduct  the  spirit  of 
his  institution  as  he  comes  on  in  the  selection  of  later 
initiates.  Not  that  this  is  always  so,  but  the  tendency 
is  such  from  the  nature  of  the  case.  The  standard  of 
the  distinction  first  given  in  college  tends  to  shape  the 
standards  of  succeeding  honors.  As  in  the  first  case, 
the  requisites  were  artificial,  so  in  succeeding  ones 
they  will  have  even  a  stronger  tendency  to  be  so  in  the 
eyes  of  these  men,  both  from  the  force  of  habit,  and 
the  ties  of  interest  and  continuous  exclusive  associa- 
tion. Thus,  in  college,  such  organizations  as  the  liter- 
ary societies  are  minimized,  and  the  things  pertaining 
to  class  and  wealth  are  magnified.  The  college  sport 
becomes  the  hero.     The  idol  of  all  eyes  is  not  he  who 


214  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

has  commanding  intellect,  ability,  or  character,  but  he 
who  meets  the  superficial,  arbitrary,  and  unessential 
standards  already  pointed  out.  It  becomes  no  disgrace 
in  such  light  to  fail  in  scholarship,  even  in  character 
and  other  dynamic  qualities,  but  it  is  unpardonable  sin 
to  fall  short  of  the  required  essentials.  This  senti- 
ment, being  prevalent  among  a  large  number  of  the 
students,  tends  to  have  greater  or  less  effect  on  all 
others,  and  thus  college  spirit  is  to  this  degree  de- 
praved and  vi^asted. 

5.  Thus  the  practices  of  the  fraternities  damage  the 
man,  foster  a  disagreeable  element  in  college  life  and 
set  up  false  views  and  standards  of  value.  If,  as  we 
claim,  the  requisites  for  admission  into  the  fraternities 
are  superficial,  arbitrary,  and  statical;  if  they  are  ob- 
jective qualifications  and  not  subjective  qualities  of 
worth;  then  their  practices  are  pretentions,  and  war 
against  truth,  candor  and  manliness.  The  man  apply- 
ing and  the  man  subjected  to  such  tests  are  damaged 
morally;  and  a  wrong  spirit  arises  which  inevitably 
fosters  a  disagreeable  element  that  must  necessarily 
resort  to  secret  intrigue  and  discordant  action  to  ac- 
complish their  ends.  Such  life  never  produces  that 
broad  and  tolerant  spirit  which  sees  things  in  their 
true  light  and  measures  value  by  just  and  sympathetic 
standards.  It  generates  a  narrow  and  partial  feeling, 
prompting  the  man  in  almost  every  action  to  decide  in 
favor  of  his  own  secluded  and  exclusive  circle,  even  in 
opposition  to  larger  and  higher  interests.  (Incom- 
plete). Is  this  University  Spirit?  Is  this  the  loyalty 
that  would  sacrifice  self  and  sect  for  the  recognized 
good  of  the  whole  student  body  and  the  University? 
You  may  ask  if  the  men  whom  I  am  representing  are 
not  acting  from  selfish  motives.     I  point  you  to  their 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  215 

action  in  this  matter  since  the  settlement  made  last 
year.  They  have  not  raised  a  hand  against  the  con- 
certed action  of  all  concerned,  believing  it  to  be  best 
for  the  University  to  accept  a  compromise,  even  giving 
the  fraternities  still  the  advantage,  after  a  bitter  dis- 
cussion in  which  we  were  actuated  by  honest  and  sin- 
cere motives  for  promoting  the  University's  good. 
That  fraternity  practices  damage  the  man  and  foster  a 
disagreeable  element  in  college  life,  I  point,  if  you  will 
allow  me,  to  the  recent  cases  of  discipline  in  the  Uni- 
versity. Every  man  suspended,  save  perhaps  one  or 
two,  were  either  fraternity  men  or  pledged  to  frater- 
nities. Not  that  there  is  no  dissipation  outside  of 
fraternities,  for  the  influence  of  that  spirit  generated 
in  fraternities  cannot  but  extend  further  and  damage 
in  some  degree  men  outside  and  in  casual  contact  with 
it.  It  was  a  body  of  fraternity  men  who,  in  1892,  left 
the  Di  Society  in  a  body  and  threatened  its  dissolution. 
More  recent  events  even  might  demonstrate  this  same 
spirit,  which  I  declare  to  you  in  all  candor,  I  believe 
the  product  of  the  fraternity  idea,  abused  as  it  is  at 
present.  It  is  a  demoralizing  influence,  working  clique 
and  contention  when  there  ought  to  be  unity  and  agree- 
ment. 

6.  Experience  has  shown  that  it  is  not  wise  from 
any  point  of  view  to  have  first  year  students  associate 
with  fraternities.  This  matter,  I  claim,  must  be  set- 
tled by  the  facts  of  college  experience.  Before  there 
was  any  opposition  to  fraternities  in  the  universities 
the  conditions  were  much  different  than  now.  To  be 
a  non- fraternity  man  was  counted  by  many  a  stigma. 
By  thorough  agreement  of  the  fraternities  the  non-frat 
men,  it  seems,  were  shut  out  of  many  privileges,  espe- 
cially in  social  affairs.     It  was  especially  noticeable  in 


216  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

the  first  year  and  a  half  of  one's  college  course.  I 
know  that  leading  fraternity  men  have  granted  that 
point,  and  said  the  fraternity  idea  was  sadly  abused 
before  the  discussion.  That  discussion  ended  in  a 
compromise  restricting  fraternities  to  a  year  and  a  half 
limit.  I  emphatically  affirm  that  I  have  not  seen  as 
healthy  a  college  spirit  in  the  University  before  as  there 
has  been  this  year.  I  mean  by  that,  there  has  been 
more  unanimity  of  action,  a  more  pervasive  feeling  of 
fellowship,  a  clearer  recognition  of  men  as  men  than  I 
have  before  seen.  This  was  prominently  demonstrated 
in  athletics.  Whether  it  has  been  partly  feigned,  I 
cannot  say,  but  I  believe  much  of  it  has  been  genuine. 
The  old  lines  of  Fraternity  and  Non-Fraternity  I 
thought  were  fading  away,  for  college  politics  are  now 
conducted  through  parties  containing  both  sides  as  en- 
thusiastic elements.  If  this  better  spirit  was  beginning 
to  show,  why  throttle  its  resuscitation?     (Incomplete). 


ARTICLES  FROM  THE  WHITE  AND  BLUE. 
BOOK  REVIEWS 

CoEUR  D'AlEnE.  By  Mary  Hallock  Foote.  12mo., 
pp.  240.  Price,  $1.25.  Boston  and  New  York: 
Houghton,  IMifflin  &  Co. 

Among  the  many  notable  books  of  fiction  produced 
this  year  this  book  takes  worthy  rank.  It  tells  a  story 
of  the  riots  of  1892  at  the  Coeur  D'Alene  mines.  Like 
all  the  novels  by  this  lady,  it  is  a  thoroughly  good 
story.  The  tone  is  pure  and  the  impression  left  is 
agreeable  and  healthy.  Simple  in  style,  the  diction  is 
natural  and  in  keeping  with  the  other  harmonious  ele- 
ments of  the  story.     It  is  not  a  book  that  will  live  long 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  217 

or  create  a  craze,  but  it  is  calculated  to  have  many 
admirers  and  a  continued  appreciation  by  the  literary 
world. — From  the  "White  and  Blue,"  November  9, 
1894. 

The  Ascent  op  Man.  By  Henry  Drummond.  Third 
edition,  pp.  346.  Cloth,  $2.00.  New  York :  James 
Pott  &  Company. 

The  author  here  takes  a  scientific  view  of  man  from 
the  standpoint  of  evolution ;  but  an  evolution  read- 
justed and  "drawn  to  scale"  is  his  standard.  It  is 
taken  in  a  broad  and  Christian  view.  The  theme,  the 
author  tells  us,  "  is  Ascent,  not  Descent ;  it  is  a  story, 
not  an  argument."  "It  is  a  study  in  embryo,  in  rudi- 
ments, in  installations ;  the  scene  is  the  primitive  for- 
est; the  date  the  world's  dawn."  The  book  is  neither 
too  technical  for  the  general  reader,  nor  too  general 
for  the  specialist.  It  is  a  popular  presentation  of  a 
universally  interesting  subject.  In  solidity  and  real 
worth  it  is  one  of  the  most  notable  books  of  the  time. 
—From  the  "White  and  Blue,"  November  23,  1894. 

J.  C.  Eller  wrote  the  opening  article  in  Vol.  I,  No.  1, 
March  8,  1894,  of  "The  White  and  Blue,"  edited  as 
follows : 

BOARD  OF  EDITORS. 

Leonard  C.  Van  Noppen,  Chairman. 
Joe  E.  Alexander,  Thos.  J.  Wilson, 

J.  O.  Carr,  Jno.  C.  Eller, 

W.  C.  Smith.  H.  E.  C.  Bryant. 

BUSINESS   MANAGERS. 

A.  B.  Kimball,  E.  W.  Brawley. 


218  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

"The  Growth  of  the  University." 

In  review  of  President  Winston's  recent  report  to 
the  trustees,  it  is  indeed  gratifying  to  see  the  official 
statistics  of  the  continued  growth  of  the  University. 
Three  hundred  and  eighty-five  students  have  been 
enrohed  this  year,  making  an  increase  of  69  over 
the  attendance  of  last  year,  and  a  gain  of  187  in  three 
years.  There  are  352  students  from  North  Carolina, 
being  more  by  59  than  the  largest  enrollment  in  the 
history  of  the  University.  Fourteen  States,  embrac- 
ing an  area  from  Connecticut  to  Texas  and  from  Min- 
nesota to  Florida,  are  represented  this  year;  while 
far-away  Japan  sends  us  an  unique  "Christmas  gift" 
in  the  person  of  an  aspiring  son. 

Athletics  are  jvistly  given  prominent  mention  as  an 
auxiliary  to  the  healthy  inner  life  of  the  University, 
the  advanced  grade  of  intellectual  work  done  and  the 
excellent  healthfulness  of  the  students. 

Evidence  of  the  constantly  broadening  life  of  the 
University  is  seen  in  the  demand  for  Summer  Schools 
for  both  men  and  women  in  the  various  departments  of 
the  College. 

With  the  increase  in  students,  there  necessarily 
should  come  the  need  of  expansion  in  the  capacities  of 
the  University  in  many  directions  if  its  growth  would 
be  steady  and  permanent.  Especially,  as  the  report 
shows,  is  there  urgent  need  for  the  erection  of  two  dor- 
mitories ;  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  centrally  situated, 
with  gymnasium,  reading  room  and  University  office 
attached ;  and  the  employment  of  more  teachers.  The 
erection  of  a  Commons  Hall  is  also  suggested,  whereby 
cheap  and  suitable  board  may  be  obtained  by  needy 
students.     Dr.  Winston  well  says :  "Among  the  board- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  219 

ing  places  in  the  village  there  is  a  tendency  to  higher 
prices  not  accompanied  by  a  compensating  tendency  to 
better  food." 

The  incorporation  of  the  Law  School,  which  num- 
bers 65  this  year,  placing  it  on  the  same  footing  with 
the  other  departments,  marks  another  step  in  advance. 

In  speaking  of  the  inner  life  of  the  University,  the 
President  says :  "My  acquaintance  with  the  Univer- 
sity as  student  and  teacher  extends  through  twenty- 
eight  years,  and  I  cheerfully  testify  that  I  have  never 
known  less  vice,  immorality,  idleness  and  disorder  than 
during  the  present  year."  This  statement  should  carry 
weight  and  the  student  body  should  endeavor  to  sus- 
tain the  further  truth  which  he  strongly  declares,  that : 
"The  University  is  not  a  factory  where  character,  cul- 
ture, and  physical  power  are  made  to  order  and  worn 
like  other  garments.  Rather  it  is  a  vital  organism 
where  men  grow  daily  into  large  stature  by  self-effort, 
and  absorb  into  their  inner  selves  the  strong  nourish- 
ment that  feeds  only  those  who  earn  it." 

All  our  growth,  it  should  be  remembered,  has  been 
in  the  face  of  many  adverse  circumstances.  The  worst 
financial  panic  of  the  last  half-century  has  just  swept 
over  the  country ;  and,  as  all  growth  meets  with  oppo- 
sition, efforts  have  been  and  are  making  for  the  injury 
of  our  growing  influence.  But  the  University  idea 
will  prevail  because  it  represents  the  free  development 
and  exercise  of  man's  capabilities  directed  aright,  as 
against  the  narrow  intolerance  of  the  prejudiced  and 
ignorant.  The  true  University  fosters  the  broadest 
freedom  and  recognizes  talent  that  deserves  and  man- 
hood that  aspires. 


220  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Vol.  2.  September  2L  1894.  No.  2. 

"THE    WHITE   AND    BLUE." 
University  of  North  Carolina. 

BOARD  OF  EDITORS. 

John  C.  Eller,  A.  B.  Kimball, 

John  A.  Moore,  L.  C.  Brogden, 

Geo.  H.  Kirby.  Thos.  L.  Wright. 

J.  W.  Canada. 

BUSINESS    MANAGERS. 

James  O.  Carr,  A.  H.  Robbins. 

J.  C.  Eller  wrote  a  number  of  articles  for  this  issue ; 
we  give  the  following: 

Scope  of  "The  White  and  Blue." 

The  proposed  consolidation  of  the  two  college  week- 
lies having  been  abandoned,  because  the  scheme  was 
thought  impracticable  by  many  of  the  supporters  of 
either  paper,  it  may  be  well  to  define  the  exact  scope 
of  the  "White  and  Blue."  The  expansion  of  the  Uni- 
versity in  latter  years  has  been  so  marked  that  its  life 
and  interests  ihave  likewise  become  many-sided  and 
extensive.  The  other  weekly  is  the  creature  of  an 
athletic  body,  primarily  instituted  for  the  expression 
and  representation  of  the  athletic  interests  of  the  Uni- 
versity. There  are  other  interests  that  demand  equally 
as  much  representation  as  athletics,  and  it  is  for  these 
interests  that  the  "White  and  Blue"  proposes  to  stand. 
It  will  endeavor  to  represent  and  emphasize  the  liter- 
ary, scientific,  religious  and  social  phases  of  college 
life  and  work,  while  also  incidentally  giving  its  read- 
ers a  synopsis  of  the  work  in  athletics.  We  shall  do 
all  we  can  for  athletics,  because  we  believe  in  them. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  221 

But  we  believe  our  field  is  broad  enough  to  justify  its 
distinct  and  thorough  representation  and  that  the  im- 
portance of  it  will  likewise  create  and  maintain  a  sub- 
stantial support.  With  this  aim  and  belief,  we  greet 
the  coming  year  with  faith  in  the  attainment  of  whole- 
some results. 

Mklancholia. 

Thou  dire,  despised  and  hideous  Thing! 
Thy  diabolic  fancies  ring, 
Thy  loathsome  limbs  forever  cling, 
About  my  shuddering  soul ! 

Thou  art  the  prince  of  demons  dire, 
Thy  breath  is  a  consuming  fire, 
Thy  hellish  tortures  never  tire 
To  taunt  my  stricken  soul ! 

To  sap  the  energies  of  youth. 
Establish  sin  instead  of  truth, 
And  leave  the  mind  a  waste  uncouth. 
To  thee  is  joy  complete. 

Thy  victims  strew  the  march  of  man 
Thy  venom  slays  in  rear  and  van ; 
E'er  since  man's  pilgrimage  began. 
Thy  gloom  has  hovered  near. 

Whate'er  thy  cause,  whate'er  thy  cure 
To  doom  forlorn  thy  wiles  allure 
The  ones  who  punily  endure 
Thy  ever  tight'ning  coils. 

Arouse,  my  soul !  thy  latent  power. 
Remove  the  canker  from  the  flower. 
Forge  forward  to  the  hero's  tower 
And  guard  it  to  the  death ! 

Carlton,  '96. 


222  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

The  Doubter. 

He  who  doubts  with  honest  heart 

And  ever  seeks  for  truth  divine, 
Sees  farthest  into  Nature's  soul ; 

To  him  m'ore  clear  her  secrets  shine. 

Contented  not  with  creed  of  Eld, 
He  penetrates  the  darksome  way ; 

Ahead  in  quest  he  flashes  far 

Truth's  searchlight,  clear  and  strong  as  day. 

He  does  not  doubt  for  dearth  of  faith ; 

No  one  more  firmly  holds  his  creed, 
Whene'er  its  reasons  stand  revealed 

And  fact  with  theory  is  agreed. 

Then  cease  to  censure  honest  doubt ! 

A  truth  most  practical  be  taught ! 
That  man  must  grope  in  doubt  and  fear. 
Before  truth's  jewel  to  the  light  is  brought. 
University  of  N.  C.  J.  C.  Eller,  '96. 


MODERN  CHIVALRY-AN  ESSAY 

Every  age  has  its  hero,  every  century  its  type.  Some 
characteristic  idea  is  ever  struggling  for  expression 
and  embodiment  in  some  typical  personage,  the  hero  i 

and  type  of  his  age.     In  the  calm  retrospect  of  the  ] 

past,  wliose  ''distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view,"  ' 

•we  can  more  or  less  clearly  descry  the  procession  of  . 

heroes  and  the  institutions  which  they  represent.     The 
age  of  chivalry  marks  a  great  epoch  in  human  history  J 

and  its  distinctive  type  is  the  gallant  knight,   whose  ' 

deeds  resound  through  history  and  lend  a  charm  to  all  ■ 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  223 

subsequent  literature.  But  the  nineteenth  century  is 
so  near  us,  its  power  and  greatness  are  so  transcendent 
that  we  are  bewildered  in  attempting  to  read  its  mean- 
ing or  seek  out  its  type. 

No  age  of  the  past  possesses  more  fascination  and 
charm  than  the  chivalric  days  of  bold  and  gallant 
knighthood.  The  faults  of  chivalry  admitted,  it  still 
commands  our  admiration  for  the  cardinal  and  whole- 
some virtues  which  it  taught.  It  was  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  ever  taught  the  strictest  fidelity  to 
all  pledges.  It  magnified  even  to  a  fault  that  Chris- 
tian courtesy  which  counted  it  basest  treachery  to  with- 
hold kindness  from  the  bitterest  foe.  The  gallantry 
of  knighthood  has  never  been  surpassed  in  its  inspir- 
ing devotion  to  woman,  especially  to  the  chosen  object 
of  love.  Delighting  in  daring  exploits  and  seeking 
new  fields  for  personal  prowess,  the  Mediaeval  Knight 
cultivated  that  dauntless  courage  which  never  knew  to 
fear.  The  ideal  of  chivalry  was  honor,  as  it  was 
understood,  but  its  distinctive  spirit  could  find  room 
for  exercise  only  amid  conflict  and  bloodshed,  which  it 
naturally  tended  to  promote. 

Now  and  then  a  lovable  character  emerges  from  the 
martial  environment  and  gives  a  feeling  of  relief. 
Sir  Philip  Sydney,  Chevalier  Bayard  and  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  are  inspiring  figures,  but  they  represent  a 
knighthood  of  ill-directed  energy.  The  old  chivalry 
was  a  piece  of  beautiful  and  fantastic  frostwork,  which 
has  dissolved  in  the  beams  of  a  higher  civilization. 

This  was  the  chivalry  of  the  past.  It  has  yielded  to 
the  irresistible  advance  of  humanity,  but  its  better  and 
nobler  elements  still  live. 

Ours  is  the  chivalry  of  the  present.  Instead  of 
wasteful  war,  idle  tourney,  or  fantastic  love,  the  Mod- 


224     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

ern  Knight  seeks  employ  in  the  practical  fields  of  util- 
ity. Instead  of  foolish,  ill-starred  Crusades,  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  Knight  seeks  his  ph3-sical  development 
in  explorations  and  discoveries.  A  Stanley  opens  the 
treasury  of  a  dark  continent  to  the  world,  and  a  Greely 
braves  the  dangers  of  the  Arctic  for  the  sake  of  science 
and  discovery.  The  missionary  is  the  modern  cru- 
sader, but  his  weapon  is  the  Holy  Bible.  Which 
deserves  the  greater  credit  for  his  life-work.  Prince 
Hal,  the  old  cavalier,  or  Henry  Martyn?  Contrast 
the  lives  of  Richard  the  Lion  Heart,  and  Livingstone, 
or  Thomas  a  Becket  and  Adoniram  Judson,  and  the 
differences  of  the  old  and  the  new  chivalry  are  appar- 
ent. This  type  of  modern  knight  Charles  Dickens  had 
in  mind  when  he  said :  "The  average  American  would 
refuse  to  board  a  train  for  Heaven,  unless  assured  he 
could  go  further  west  on  his  arrival.     .     .     ." 

Our  age,  then,  is  one  of  work.  It  is  the  century  of 
utility,  ennobled  by  high  aims  and  lofty  ideals.  All 
that  was  poetic  and  imaginative,  however,  did  not  per- 
ish with  the  old  chivalry.  The  change  has  been  a  log- 
ical one  and  the  roots  of  the  past  have  blossomed  into 
the  fruit  of  the  present. 

Not  only  is  this  the  century  of  work,  it  is  the  age  of 
humanity.  The  world's  barometer  never  before  regis- 
tered so  high  a  fellow-feeling,  so  deep  a  sense  of 
human  brotherhood  as  it  does  today.  This,  I  contend, 
is  the  best  age  of  all  the  world,  and  every  succeeding 
moment  means  an  appreciable  accretion  to  the  world's 
stock  of  happiness  and  goodness. 

That  devotion  for  woman,  which  the  old  chivalry 
fostered,  bas  broadened  into  a  feeling  of  sacred  rever- 
ence and  elevated  her  to  her  true  position.  Psycholog- 
ical study  has  revealed  the  nature  of  child-life  which  is 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  225 

leading  to  its  emancipation  from  cruel  and  senseless 
thralldom.  This  century  has  been  marked  by  marvel- 
ous changes  in  the  overthrow  of  abuses,  in  the  removal 
or  modification  of  vested  rights,  in  enlargement  of 
popular  liberties.  The  progress  in  material  growth,  in 
inventions,  in  science,  in  discovery,  in  religious  activ- 
ities, in  civil  and  religious  freedom,  in  humanitarian 
reform,  in  international  ethics,  in  the  science  of  poli- 
tics, in  every  sphere  of  activity  leading  to  human  hap- 
piness, has  been  truly  amazing.  There  have  been 
struggles,  on  which  were  staked  vital  interests  of  the 
human  race,  the  result  of  which  has  shown  a  percepti- 
ble advance  toward  popular  freedom  and  human  equal- 
ity. The  whole  age  is  luminous  with  the  light  of 
growth  and  liberty. 

This,  too,  is  the  century  of  toleration.  Our  chivalry 
has  come  to  be  one  of  ethics.  It  is  the  tourney  and  tilt 
of  mind  rather  than  that  of  physical  power  that  tells, 
and  he  who  stands  in  the  van  of  ethical  and  manly 
righteousness  is  our  greatest  knight.  The  ancient 
chivalry  confined  all  honors  to  the  circles  of  high  caste, 
but  in  our  system  the  rail-splitter  or  orphan  boy  may 
dare  to  enter  the  lists  and  win  the  highest  approval. 
Never  before  was  there  felt  such  an  interest  in  man 
and  nature.  And  according  to  this  quickened  interest 
there  has  been  a  geometrical  progression  in  the  higher 
life  of  man.  We  see  the  constant  operation  of  arbi- 
tration in  international  disputes.  Human  slavery  ^has 
met  its  deathblow.  In  England,  Corporation  and  Test 
Acts  have  been  repealed,  universities  liberalized,  Ro- 
man Catholics  and  Jews  relieved  of  civil  disabilities, 
and  the  franchise  extended  and  representation  equal- 
ized. The  criminal  code  has  been  humanized,  death 
penalties  have  been  restricted  and  the  light  of  day  has 

15 


226  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

been  let  into  prisons.  Monopolies  have  been  over- 
thrown, municipal  corporations  reformed,  chancery 
and  common  law  courts  made  accessible  to  suitors, 
poor  laws  improved,  the  post-office  has  been  made  the 
servant  of  every  one,  and  public  education  placed  in 
reach  of  all. 

These  great  changes  are  the  product  of  Anglo-Saxon 
genius.  Rising  ever  higher  in  the  scale  of  civilization, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  has  touched  this  whole  world  with 
his  vigor  and  bis  power.  If  we  can  find  the  highest 
type  of  this  Anglo-Saxon  genius  we  shall  have  the 
Knight  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  two  great 
ideas  for  which  he  will  stand  will  be  civil  liberty  and 
pure,  spiritual  Christianity. 

The  man  whom  I  consider  the  best  type  of  his  race 
and  his  age,  and  the  best  expression  of  their  funda- 
mental life,  is  WilHam  Ewart  Gladstone.  For  a  half- 
century  he  has  stood  in  the  forefront  of  the  history  of 
the  greatest  nation  on  earth.  In  his  life  the  moral  and 
spiritvial  elements  are  dominant,  and  his  pole  star  is 
justice.  He  accepts  Christianity  not  simply  as  an  in- 
tellectual creed,  but  as  a  personal  belief,  operative  on 
human  conduct,  vitalizing  motive,  imposing  obligation, 
ofifering  rewards.  Never  does  his  moral  earnestness, 
scrupulous  conscientiousness,  or  exaltation  of  charac- 
ter yield  to  chicanery  or  mere  expediency.  The  hu- 
mane spirit  of  the  age  appears  in  his  heroic  and  unsel- 
fish championship  of  the  downtrodden  Irish. 

No  other  civilian  (and  our  knight  is  a  civilian)  in 
this  covmtry  has  awakened  such  popular  enthusiasm, 
has  commanded  such  zealous  following,  has  been  iden- 
tified with  so  many  and  such  great  measures.  And 
why  is  this  so?     It  is  because  he  embodies  the  spirit  of 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  227 

the  age,  and  has  the  eminent  power  and  unflinching 
will  to  dare  to  champion  the  truth. 

Gladstone,  like  our  century,  is  really  too  near  us  in 
time  for  a  full  appreciation  of  his  worth.  But  no 
surer  index  can  be  given  us  than  his  constant  and 
devoted  popularity.  Apart  from  his  vast  and  ready 
information,  his  versatility  of  intellect,  his  adminis- 
trative genius,  and  his  entrancing  eloquence,  his  hu- 
mane and  loving  spirit  has  perforce  won  and  held  the 
heart  and  mind  of  the  English-speaking  race.  He  is 
the  greatest  living  champion  of  justice  and  right,  of 
honor  and  freedom,  of  peace  and  goodwill,  the  greatest 
comimoner  of  the  century,  the  Grand  Old  Man,  the  true 
Knight  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  He  is  the  most 
chivalric  knight  that  has  jousted  for  honor  or  tilted  in 
the  lists  of  human  endeavor  in  this  century.  But  no 
one  living  man  can  be  said  to  represent  all  the  activi- 
ties of  an  age,  especially  one  of  such  huge  endeavor  as 
ours.  There  is  that  knight  of  invention,  Thomas  A. 
Edison,  who  stands  for  a  force  that  has  wrought  stu- 
pendous changes  in  civilization.  After  the  inventor  in 
time,  but  by  no  means  in  power,  may  be  placed  the  man 
of  wealth,  the  millionaire,  a  knight  that  bids  fair  to 
unhorse  all  opponents  in  the  tilts  of  the  coming  years. 
Unless  the  George  Peabody  or  Peter  Cooper  type  pre- 
vail, he  may  be  watched  with  fear,  for  his  god  is  a 
false  god,  and  his  creed  is  the  creed  of  coin. 

But  let  us  not  be  daunted  in  hope  if  the  Knights  of 
Evil  sometimes  win  the  approving  smile,  for  as  sure  as 
we  are  better  than  our  fathers,  so  sure  are  we  worse 
than  our  sons  will  be.  The  world  is  growing  better 
and  the  powers  of  darkness  shall  not  prevail  over  the 
powers  of  goodness. 

Mankind  bas  advanced,  both  in  body  and  in  spirit, 


228     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

grown  to  be  at  once  more  delicate  and  more  enduring, 
more  sensitive  to  weariness  and  yet  more  patient  of 
toil,  impressible,  but  capable  of  bearing  powerful  irri- 
tation, we  are  woven  of  finer  fiber,  which,  though  ap- 
parently frail,  yet  outlasts  the  coarser,  as  rich  and 
costly  garments  oftentimes  wear  better  than  those  of 
rougher  workmanship. 

The  Knight  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  a  versatile, 
many-sided,  fully  developed  man.  Not  only  is  he  en- 
dowed with  physical  prowess,  but  he  seeks  the  highest 
skill  in  the  intellectual  realm.  Not  content  with  a 
dead  formalism  or  ritualistic  faith  he  lives  his  re- 
ligion.    .     .     . 

CLASS  FAREWELL 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Today  you  witness  the  leavetaking  of  the  class  of 
'96  from  our  beloved  University  home,  and  see  us 
enter  on  the  highway  of  strenuous  life.  It  marks  the 
fruition  of  our  youth  into  the  soberer  strength  of  man- 
hood. Here  are  focused  the  lines  of  our  past  life, 
and  from  this  point  radiate  the  aspirations  and  prom- 
ises of  all  that  the  future  should  contain.  It  is  the 
supreme  turning  point  in  our  lives.  The  directions  of 
our  different  courses  now  diverge,  and  the  tide  must 
be  taken  at  the  flood,  or  our  ways  will  abound  in  the 
shallows  of  disappointment. 

Our  historian  has  recorded  the  eventful  stories  of 
the  past,  teeming  with  marvelous  exploits  and  heroic 
happenings.  Our  prophet  has  pierced  the  mystic  veil 
of  futurity  and  revealed  the  inspiring  vision  of  that 
which  is  to  com,e.  Our  poet  has  wrought  the  epic  of 
our  college  life,  and  sung  the  strains  of  fancy- fash- 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  229 

ioned  ideals.  Our  statistician  has  taken  a  census  of 
our  traits  and  talents  and  given  you  the  cold  facts 
about  our  personalities. 

There  is  little  left  for  me  to  say,  save  to  speak  the 
parting  word  and  thank  you  all  for  your  patience  and 
sympathy.  Let  me  say,  however,  that  our  parting  as 
undergraduates  for  the  last  time,  though  colored  with 
pleasure  and  congratulation,  is  still  a  moment  of  sin- 
cere sadness,  a  time  that  prompts  regrets. 

Indeed,  I  am  sure  that  '96  will  ever  cherish  in  lasting 
love  the  kindly  village-folk  of  Chapel  Hill,  the  indul- 
gent and  cultured  members  of  our  learned  faculty  and 
their  gracious  families,  the  true  and  loyal  student  body 
and  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  our  beloved  Alma  Mater, 
the  good  old  University. 

Fellow  Comrades: 

For  four  fleeting  years  we  have  tarried  together  in 
this  sacred  seat  of  learning,  from  a  terror-stricken  mob 
of  more  than  a  hundred  freshmen  we  have  come 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow,  shorn  of  our  num- 
bers, but,  let  us  hope,  chastened  for  nobler  living  and 
equipped  for  greater  deeds. 

Our  college  life  here,  they  say,  is  but  a  miniature  of 
the  great  world-life  beyond.  Though  our  ways  have 
often  been  checkered  by  disappointment  and  difference, 
still  the  retrospect  will  ever  glow  with  the  gladsome 
remembrance  of  fellowship  and  the  touching  thought 
of  happy  association. 

For  the  past,  then  let  us  have  regrets  for  the  mis- 
takes, and  cover  them  with  the  mantle  of  charity. 
For  the  present,  let  us  make  high  resolves  to  stand  ever 
in  the  forefront  of  the  fight  for  truth,  and  clasp  hands 
in  loving  comradeship  in  defense  of  those  principles 


230  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

which  we  all  cherish.  For  the  future,  let  our  aims  be 
lofty,  our  aspirations  noble,  our  characters  true  and 
stainless — and  for  the  rest  let  there  be  no  fear. 

Learning  is  supreme  and  we  are  its  champions. 
This  University  is  the  place  where  men  are  made. 
The  fruitage  of  its  endeavor  must  be  manhood,  schol- 
arship, character — or  its  existence  becomes  a  mockery. 
Let  us  never  lower  the  standard  of  its  high  life,  but 
rather  strive  to  intensify  the  types  which  it  seeks  to 
develop. 

I  speak  to  you  as  a  fellow  comrade,  and  I  know  that 
in  your  hearts  there  pulsates  a  cordial  response  to 
aught  of  truth  I  may  have  uttered,  and  in  that  glad  as- 
surance I  feel  with  confidence  the  certainty  of  your 
success. 

And  with  these  words  of  hope  and  cheer  let  the  fare- 
well word  be  said.  May  each  one  of  us,  following 
forth  his  preferred  profession,  carve  enduring  figures 
of  righteous  achievement  on  the  tablet  of  his  time  and 
live  a  beacon-life  of  manliness  and  power. 


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JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  231 


An  Elegy  in  Memory  of  My  College  Mates, 
Plato  and  John  Eller. 


They  need  no  monument ;  their  hving  names 

Bloom  Hke  twin  lilies  in  the  hand  of  death ! 

O  ye,  who  grieve  for  their  ungathered  fames ; 

Who  mourn  for  them  as  dead 

With  all  their  hopes  unharvested ; 

Ye,  who  have  seen 

The  gradual  green 

Mantle  their  naked  graves ; 

Who  weep  that  they  so  lowly  lie 

Vaulted  by  the  vast  arches  of  the  sky, 

Windowed  to  all  the  winds !  who  yearn 

To  see  them  memoried  by  marble  urn 

Or  solemn-itempled  cenotaph,  and  sigh 

Because  no  roof  their  ashes  covereth, 

No  towered  shrine  to  blazon  their  renown ; 

O  ye,  for  them,  who  crave  a  lustred  crown. 

Let  no  harsh  plaint  and  shrill  draw  near 

Their  pleasant  sleep,  no  futile  tear. 

For  these  are  not  the  slaves 

Of  Death,  but  his  companions,  free. 

The  lords  of  immortality ; 

Each  at  his  feast  a  rare  and  laureled  guest : 

Make  them  not  poor  who  are  so  rich  in  rest. 

Like  to  eternal  listeners. 
So  still  they  lie, 


1 

■I 
i 

232  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER  ' 

Where  they  can  hear  no  cry,  i 

And  no  bough  stirs  ' 

Of  Death's  memorial  firs. 

Softly  they  lie, 

Where  never  sigh 

Can  enter,  with  unwaking  eye. 

Who  ripened,  ah,  too  soon ! 

And  fell  before  their  noon. 

Lustreless ;  each  imperial  head. 

Bowed  to  the  dust,  unchapleted ! 

They  fell?     Nay,  brightly  rose, 

Winging  to  high  repose. 

Singing  like  the  young  lark, 

Darting  over  the  dark 

Into  the  morning.     Hark! 

Eager  to  hail  the  east  i 

How  joyfully  he  sings  i 

Lending  the  world  of  things 

A  happiness  of  wings ;  i 

But  they,  from  gloom  released, 

Beyond  the  years,  in  some  sublimer  West 

Are  havened  now,  all  quiet  after  quest. 

O  ye,  who  loved  them  so,  ' 

Be  no  more  sad  to  know  ; 

How  over  Dhem  the  snow  ' 

Spreads  a  white  silence,  falling  ' 

As  from  the  wings  of  death,  I 

Soft  as  an  infant's  breath  i 

And  softer  than  the  calling  '  i 

To  roses  of  the  rain.  | 

Speak,  Oh !  so  gently,  lest,  j 

By  your  loud  woe  opprest,  j 

They  waken  with  a  wild  amaze, 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  233 

Facing  remembered  pain, 

Startled  to  life  again 

By  the  approach  of  your  belated  praise. 

To  them  with  vision  garmented  how  vain 

The  pomps  of  time,  the  bugle  and  the  bays ! 

Their  seats  are  empty  and  the  lofty  place 

Aches  for  the  lordship  of  a  noble  face, 

Now  seen  of  men  no  more. 

Oh !  let  me  strew  around 

Roses  of  royal  sound 

And  wreathe  their  brows  with  amaranth  who  bore 

The  banner  of  their  youth 

Unsullied  towards  the  truth 

And  passed  through  death  as  through  a  silent  door. 

I  see  him  yet.     Oh,  could  I  see  as  then 

That  figure  of  defiance,  as  he  stood, 

Isled  in  a  hush,  in  all  his  goodlihood. 

Superb,  majestical,  a  man  of  men! 

I  see  him  yet,  the  elder  of  these  twain, 

Flushed  with  the  vision,  avid  to  attain, 

Leaning  toward  the  morrows,  mad  to  run 

Telling  the  nations  of  the  risen  sun! 

I  hear  again  his  resonant  voice,  that  rang 

Clear  as  a  clarion  amid  the  clang 

And  clash  of  our  dissensions,  when  he  spurned 

The  wrong  with  flamling  utterance,  that  burned 

The  very  air,  while  with  his  sacred  ire 

His  head  was  haloed  as  with  golden  fire. 

And  we,  who  listened,  were  uplifted — rose. 

All  exultation,  like  the  condor's  wing. 

To  the  warm  ether,  borne  above  the  snows 

Of  the  cold  mind !     His  was  the  hand  to  fling 


234     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

The  brand  of  challenge ;  his,  the  heel  to  crush 
The  pliant  sycophant ;  and  like  the  rush 
Of  mighty  wings  the  whirling  of  his  wrath, 
Sweeping  like  leaves  obstructions  from  its  path. 

His  was  no  voice  to  cheer,  nor  art  to  charm, 
Who,  true  to  truth  and  loyal  to  the  light. 
Forbore  not  from  the  battle;  but,  with  arm 
Uplift  in  splendid  anger,  ruled  the  hour. 
We  knew  'his  face  the  very  face  of  power. 
His  hand-tossed  hair  the  roused  mane  of  might, 
As  casting  off  his  mantle  of  repose. 
Mounting  the  highest  moment,  he  uprose. 
Stern  and  austere,  a  tower  of  rectitude. 
With  something  of  the  lion  in  his  look, 
Ruddy  and  rugged,  one,  whose  accents  took 
The  silence,  overw*helming  like  a  flood ! 
He  was  a  man,  for  mastership  and  sway 
Chosen  of  stars;  who,  steadfast  as  the  rock. 
Fearless  in  fear,  and  like  the  storm  to  mock, 
Sovran  of  scorn,  high,  like  a  scourge  to  flay, 
Lifted  a  lash  of  lightnings,  W'hile  the  Lie 
Cowered  and  quailed  before  his  conquering  eye. 
Then  Death  awoke  and  w'hispered  him  away. 

Folded  forever  more  are  those  strong  hands. 

Sinewed  for  struggle,  silent  is  that  tongue, 

On  which,  unbreathing,  hung 

The  Future,  with  intense 

And  passionate  suspense. 

Ah !  that  imperial  mouth, 

Mighty  to  shape  heroical  commands, 

Is  mute  forever,  and  the  parching  South 

As  in  a  desert  lies 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  235 

Beneath  delirious  skies, 

With  half-remembering  eyes, 

Thirsting  for  eloquence ! 

Who  now  remains  so  valiant  to  revive 

Her  drooping  visions?     Who  of  all  that  dream 

Shall  speak  the  word  which  shall  her  name  redeem  ? 

And  who  of  heart  so  puissant  shall  strive 

With  unobsequious  will 

To  set  upon  a  hill 

The  gates  of  morning?     Who,  now  he  is  cold, 

Shall  up  the  mountains  bear  the  gates  of  gold? 

Haply  they  called  him,  they,  who  in  high  calm 

Forget  the  pang,  the  passion  and  the  palm ; 

They,  who  of  old, 

Triumphant,  bold, 

Kept  the  dark  fords  of  trial. 

Hurling  at  wrong 

Like  some  wild  song 

The  wrath  of  their  denial ; — 

They,  who  were  first  to  dare, 

Whose  still  far-whispered  names 

The  sullen  tyrant  shames 

Back  to  his  shadowed  lair  ; — 

They,  w*ho  in  gloom  were  once  a  spreading  glory, 

Throbbing  like  stars  in  the  long  night  of  story ; 

Whose  treasured  words  the  chanting  winds  intone 

Through  wooded  Carolina,  wondering, 

After  the  cease  of  their  deep  thundering. 

Who  shall  prolong 

That  proudest  song. 

Since  he  is  fled,  to  other  forum  flown. 

Haply  they  called  him,  owning  him  their  Head, 
Unto  the  mighty  Senate  of  The  Dead ; 


236  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Where  with  his  voice  that  rings 

Like  the  rich  scorn  of  kings, 

Pleading  some  fallen  planet's  dying  Cause 

With  the  most  burning  word 

By  the  Immortals  heard, 

He  warms  those  pallid  Sessions  to  applause. 

There  in  no  doubt  he  stands, 

Poising  his  sure  commands. 

And  with  a  look  as  regal 

As  of  some  lordly  eagle 

By  one  majestic  gesture  of  his  hands 

Waves  back  that  battle  of  lies 

Warring  against  the  Skies ; 

Or,  like  some  steadfast  star, 

That  Orator  into  his  orbit  draws 

Rebellion's  meteor  brands ; 

Or  old  Despair  defies. 

That  virgin  Hope  denies 

Her  happy  heritage ; 

And  there  with  bardic  rage 

And  with  the  poet's  passion,  without  pause 

He  shall  sublimely  wage 

Love's  just  and  holy  war, 

Till  Hate's  discordant  Anarchies, 

Chained  by  his  eloquence  in  singing  bands. 

Follow  his  trivimph,  musical  with  laws ! 

Thus  hoar  Injustice  from  her  dateless  sway 

He  sweeps  to  gulfs  of  death 

With  such  most  glorious  breath 

It  floods  the  dark  with  universal  day. 

So  I  behold  him,  wonderful  in  power, 

A  prophet,  throned  upon  a  fateful  hour, 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  237 

Crying  against  the  anger  of  the  Dark, 
Till  ancient  Hell  and  all  its  echoes  hark. 

For  not  alone  on  earth 

Must  Right  clash  arms  with  Wrong; 

But  the  firm  soul  and  strong, 

Stronger  with  every  birth, 

Meets  battle  on  the  Heights 

Amid  the  armied  lights, 

And  there,  as  here,  shall  conquer  with  a  song. 

And  now  to  him  so  young, 

Who  like  the  swan  upflung, 

Singing,  his  life  into  the  silent  skies. 

Let  me  bring  blooms  that  bleed 

From  love's  melodious  mead. 

And  make  to  live  the  music  in  his  eyes. 

Not  even  Death  could  dull 

That  Spirit  beautiful, 

Not  even  Death  with  all  his  art  of  fears ; 

For  he,  exceeding  bright, 

Shattered  the  brittle  night. 

His  memory  a  rainbow  on  our  tears ! 

It  was  a  quiet  place, 
Where  with  a  radiant  face 
And  morning  in  his  hair 
He  came  to  lighten  care, 
Merry  with  carollings, 
As  of  a  bird  that  sings ; 
And  made  a  glory  there, 
As  where  the  violet  springs 
And  like  some  broidered  gem 
Brightens  the  sombre  hem 


238  FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Of  Winter's  fading,  chill 

And  cheerless  robe  of  shadow ; — 

It  was  a  quiet  meadow, 

Closed  to  all  tumult,  where  the  world's  loud  roar 

Was  a  far  murmur,  and  one  pebbled  rill, 

The  dancing  babe  of  some  sky-wedded  hill, 

Babbled  in  syllables  of  the  large  sea, 

Where  winds  are  friends  and  all  the  ways  are  free, 

And  the  wild  wave  may  wanton  from  the  shore ; — 

It  was  a  sheltered  place, 

Too  low  for  grandeur,  yet  w<here  every  grace. 

Faith,  Hope  and  Charity, 

And  also  Joy  and  Peace, 

Clasped  hands  and  made  such  harmony 

That  sorrows  softly  cease : 

A  future-fitting  home ! 

Whose  threshold  was  content, 

Where  life  and  life's  wide  liberty 

Like  some  yet  nameless  continent 

Called  for  his  glad  discovery 

Across  the  surging  foam. 

And  when  he  fared  on  his  adventurous  quest 

And  looked  on  Life  and  gazed  into  her  breast. 

He  recognized  the  friend  of  his  young  dreams, 

One  whom  he  always  knew ; 

And  so  he  trusted  her  he  found  so  true. 

So  rich  in  love  and  fair  with  starry  beams. 

Spontaneous  truth 

Sprang  from  his  youth ; 

W'ho,  in  his  native  innocence. 

Confronted  human  guile 

With  a  forgiving  smile 

And  with  a  hush  could  overlook  offense. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  239 

Loving  so  much  he  surely  understood 
And  faced  the  world  and  all  its  glistering  shows 
As  one  who  knows,  as  one  who  truly  knows, 
And  therefore  found  the  heart  of  evil  good. 


fe"^ 


Like  some  tall  cedar,  green 
With  everlastingness, 
He  grew  in  simple  grandeur,  seen 
Only  of  eyes  that  bless. 

As  through  a  crystal  vase  his  candour  beamed 

Till  all  who  saw  him  looked  as  they  had  dreamed; 

His  lucent  words  were  chaste  and  delicate 

As  silver  doves  beneath  the  ivied  eaves ; 

He  seemed  as  he  could  nothing  hate  save  hate. 

One  who  aloud  the  beautiful  believes. 

He  gave  to  all  that  lives 

Such  justice  as  the  sun 

To  earth  with  silence  gives. 

And  nothing  saw  to  shun. 

Nothing  of  nature's  make; 

And  in  his  glowing  wake 

A  gladness,  like  the  shine  of  happy  eyes ! 

He  owned  what  he  found  lovely :  not  a  shell 

But  had  for  him  some  music  of  surprise. 

Some  colored  secret  that  it  longed  to  tell 

Softly  to  him  alone,  so  laughter-wise. 

And  where  the  drooping  nightingale  of  song. 

Chanting  no  more  with  rapture  of  the  rose. 

Ailed  into  anguish,  pierced  by  the  rude  thorn, 

He  rid  her  bosom  of  that  throbbing  wrong 

And  left  her  thrilling,  with  her  heart  new-born. 

Joyfully  winging 

Beyond  the  reach  of  woes, 


240     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Blissfully  singing, 

As  if  all  pain  were  stilled  into  repose 

And  life  no  more  should  suffer  scathe  or  scorn. 

Child  of  the  morning-star,  eternal  child ! 

All  that  was  fierce  grew  meek  and  strangely  tame, 

Lulled  by  his  whisper.     Passions,  grim  and  wild, 

Forgot  in  him  their  anger,  and  were  mild 

Because  he  loved  them,  till  his  very  name 

Was  worn  by  many  as  a  holy  charm, 

A  murmlired  amulet  against  all  harm. 

For,  swift  as  magic,  his  triumphant  love 

Transformed  the  vulture  greed  into  the  dove, 

The  tiger  hate  into  the  following  fawn 

And  what  was  dark  into  a  sudden  dawn. 

Oh !  he  was  sure  blood-brother  to  the  sun, 

Since  every  bud  would  blossom  in  bis  eyes. 

His  was  the  deed  wherever  good  was  done. 

Who  coped  with  Life  with  such  a  mirth  of  might, 

As  if  in  him  the  unwithholding  skies 

Had  poured  a  glorious  potency  of  right. 

So  through  the  world  he  glimmered  like  a  dream. 
Virginal  keeper  of  the  joyous  gleam ! 
And  left  behind  a  fragrance  like  that  wind 
Blown  from  the  bleeding  balsam  on  the  height ; 
For  healing  was  the  mission  of  his  mind. 
As  to  a  living  altar  so  he  leaned. 
Robed  for  the  sacrifice,  from  sadness  weaned. 
Reason's  young  priest  and  burning  acolyte ! 

He  leaned,  as  to  an  altar,  kindling  fire, 

Then  brother  waved  to  brother,  "come  up  higher !' 

And  to  that  upper  glory  he  went  forth 

As  one  divining  the  unvisioned  North, 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  241 

Wrapping  his  youth  about  him. 

Still  that  place, 
Whence  he  ascended  with  a  shining  face, 
Is  live  with  him,  and  still  his  mantle  bright 
Over  our  darkness  sheds  undying  light ! 

The  prow  is  pointed  and  the  Captain  calls, 

And  there  is  seen  a  waving  on  the  walls 

Of  long  and  last  farewells. 

Now  to  the  gales 

They  give  their  sails, 

And  mid  a  sound  of  bells,  of  bells, 

Of  silver-sounding  bells. 

As  by  a  wind  of  music  they  are  borne 

Gently  through  shadows  to  the  shores  of  morn. 

Thus  soul  with  brother  soul. 
Brother  with  brother  brightness, 
To  God,  the  highest  goal. 
Fares  in  a  mist  of  whiteness. 

Oh  happy  so  to  fare. 
After  the  heart's  soft  cease, 
Upon  a  mere  of  peace. 
Deaf  to  the  call  of  care 
And  dead  to  all  despair, 
Moving,  as  with  no  motion. 
Upon  a  soundless  ocean ; 
Wafted  on  waters  deep, 
As  on  a  sea  of  sleep. 
Beyond  the  wail  of  wave. 
With  nothing  more  to  crave 
And  nothing  left  to  dare. 
To  move  and  yet  to  lie 
Drowned  in  a  dreaming  sky ! 

16 


242     FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 

Becalmed  by  beauty,  where, 

Drifting  while  winds  are  still, 

They  need  no  pilot's  skill 

Nor  heed  the  helm  of  will; 

But  float  as  to  a  tryst 

And  pass  with  veiled  eye 

Orion,  and  descry. 

Like  one  who  leaves  a  mist, 

The  sister  Pleiades, 

Like  radiant  charities 

To  charm  the  soul  to  Heaven ! 

And  also  Seven  Sanctities 

That  stand  like  angels  seven, 

Pausing  before  the  Throne 

Till  the  Unknown  is  Known ! 

When  from  their  hush  shall  all  the  patient  choirs 

Lighten  and  leap  and  lift  their  singing  fires ! 

Oh !  never  storm  may  blow 
On  that  unmurmuring  mere. 
As  to  their  goal  they  go, 
Faring  from  cloud  to  clear. 

There  stars  are  dim  and  lights  are  soft  and  low 
And  Death  lies  dead  with  self-inflicted  sting; 
And  Life  is  like  a  lover,  whispering 
Of  deathless  love  in  the  long  afterglow. 

Now  that  the  yellow  sere 

Lays  blight  upon  tlie  year 

And  all  the  trees  their  golden  crowns  have  shed, 

I  lay  the  last  pale  bloom 

Upon  their  seeming  tomb. 

Whom  death  no  more  shall  dungeon  with  the  dead. 


JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER  243 

Oh !  nevermore  shall  change 

From  hope  their  hearts  estrange, 

And  nevermore  their  peace  one  sorrow  mar ; 

Now  after  day  is  done 

Beyond  the  set  of  sun 

They  shine  on  us  as  shines  the  evening  star. 

Leonard  Van  Noppen. 
Riverside,  Conn. 
October  the  eighteenth,  1909. 


244 


FRANKLIN  PLATO  ELLER 


'^pptnbix 


COLLEGE  RECORDS  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL 
ENTRIES  OF  THE  REGISTRAR 


Franklin  Plato  Eller,  Ph.  B.  (Degree) 


1889-90 

1st  Year. 

1  Term. 

1  Math. 

88 

ILat. 

77 

lEng. 

96 

Hist. 

85 

IGer. 

74 

2  Term. 

1  Math. 

90 

ILat. 

89 

1  Eng. 

97 

Hist. 

95 

IGer. 

83 

2d  Year. 

1  Term. 

2Lat. 

83 

Chem. 

80 

2Eng. 

93 

2Ger. 

77 

2  Math. 

74 

Phys. 

93 

2  Term. 

2Lat. 

86 

2Ger. 

Chem. 

79 

2  Eng. 

88 

2  Math. 

72 

Geo. 

76 

3d  Year. 

1  Term. 

Physics 

(a) 

3  Lat. 

3 

3  Eng. 

1 

Physiog 

.    2 

1  Saxon 

3 

2  Hist. 

3 

1  Hist. 

2 

Psychol. 

4 

2  Term. 

Physics 

4 

3  Lat. 

4 

3  Eng. 

1 

1  Hist. 

2 

1  Saxon 

2 

2  Hist. 

2 

Logic 

4 

JOHN  CARLTON  ELLER 


245 


COLLEGE  RECORDS  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL 
ENTRIES  OF  THE  REGISTRAR 


Jo 

HN  Carlton 

Ellkr,  Ph. 

B. 

(Degree) 

1892-93 

1st  Year. 

Hrs. 

1  Term. 

1  Math.   2 

ILat. 

2 

1  Eng.  1 

Phys.        2 

Elem.  Phys 

.  3 

16 

2  Term. 

1  Math.   1 

Elem.  Phys 

.  2 

1  Eng.  1 

2 

2 

1 

Physiog.  1 

ILat. 

2 

16 

2d  Year. 

1 

1 

1  Term. 

2  Math.   1 

2Lat. 

2 

2  Eng.  1 

Chem.       1 

IGer. 

1 

1  Sax.  1 

18 

1  Hist.      1 

2  Term. 

2  Math.  2 

2Lat. 

1 

2  Eng.  2 

3 

1 

1 

Chem.      2 

IGer. 

2 

ISax.  1 

18 

1 

1 

1 

1  Hist.     1 

1 

3d  Year. 

1  Term. 

Psy.          2 

1  French 

1 

3  Eng.  1 

2  Hist.      1 

2Ger. 

2 

1  Geol.  1 

17 

2  Term. 

Psy.          2 

1  French 

1 

3  Eng.  1 

2 

1 

1 

2  Hist.      1 

2Ger. 

2 

1  Geol.  1 

4th  Year. 

1 

2 

1 

17 

1  Term. 

Es.  &  Or.  1 

Logic 

2 

Sci.  Ed.  1 

4  Eng.       1 

Phil. 

1 

His.Ed.l 

Polit.  Ec. 

1 

3  Hist.  1 

12 

2d  term  marks  not  recorded;  Logic  and  Sci.  Ed.  not  needed 

for  degree. 

